Mysteries of the Deep Grade 3

english language arts Mysteries of the Deep Grade 3

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

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Table of Contents 5

Table of Contents

Introduction

Overview What is this unit about?...... 9 What content and concepts will students learn?...... 9 What practices will students use?...... 9 How long will it take to engage students in the unit?...... 9

Unit Outline...... 10

Materials by Task...... 11

TEXT 1: “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis

TASK 1.1: Comprehension...... 15

TASK 1.2: Interpretation...... 24

TASK 1.3: Analysis...... 35

TEXT 2: “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis

TASK 2.1: Comprehension...... 47

TASK 2.2: Interpretation...... 56

TASK 2.3: Analysis...... 64

Writing Across Texts

Lesson...... 77 Task Handout...... 84 Decision Tree Scoring Guide...... 85 Annotated Student Sample 1...... 86 Decision Tree Scoring Guide, Student Sample 1...... 87 Annotated Student Sample 2...... 88 Decision Tree Scoring Guide, Student Sample 2...... 89

Appendix

What is our approach to vocabulary instruction?...... 93 How does the unit provide support for English learners?...... 95 Obtaining Copyright Permission...... 96 Instructional Resources Reader/Writer Notebook...... 97 Reader/Writer Notebook Suggested Feedback System...... 98 Pedagogical Rituals and Routines...... 99 Accountable Talk® Moves and Functions in ELA...... 100 Inquiry-Based Discussion...... 101

Introduction 9

Overview

What is this unit about? In this unit, students will read two texts: “The Beast of Loch Ness”1 and “Monster of the Sea”2 both by Lauren Tarshis. Each text explores the search for a mysterious creature, using factual information and narrative stories from eyewitnesses. In “The Beast of Loch Ness,” students read about the illusive Loch Ness Monster and gain an introduction to cryptozoology—the study of mysterious creatures. The second text, “Monster of the Sea,” discusses the discovery of the giant squid, which sailors and fishermen first thought to be a creature called the kraken. Through the study of these two articles, students build their knowledge of these mysterious creatures as well as what counts as proof when working to show that these creatures exist. Additionally, students are supported to draw evidence from texts in order to construct written and oral explanations, analyses, and conclusions.

What content and concepts will students learn? Students will learn about:

• the evidence that supports and negates the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. • the evidence that supported the discovery of the giant squid. • what evidence counts as proof when trying to prove that mysterious creatures exist. • how authors use descriptive language to help readers see and understand mysterious creatures. • characteristics of explanations.

What practices will students use? Students are supported to develop practices and habits such as how to:

• comprehend and analyze informational texts with assistance and independently. • work from moments in one text and across two texts to develop text-based explanations, analyses, and conclusions. • read, reread, annotate, and take notes on sections of texts and texts in their entirety as a means to enhance their understanding within and across texts. • write like the authors of the unit texts to practice using language to help readers understand a creature of their own creation. • draft effective explanations that include clearly stated ideas, textual evidence to support their ideas, and explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to their ideas. • participate in routines such as maintaining a Reader/Writer Notebook, completing quick writes, sharing in pairs/trios, and participating in whole group discussions.

How long will it take to engage students in the unit? This unit spans approximately 13-15 instructional days, assuming 45- to 60-minute classes. The tasks in the unit are designed to be implemented sequentially in order to support students to achieve the instructional goals. As such, the pacing of the lessons will depend on the time students need to achieve these goals.

1 Tarshis, L. (2014, October). The beast of Loch Ness. Scholastic Storyworks, 63(3), 4-8.

2 Tarshis, L. (2012, March). Monster of the sea. Scholastic Scope, 63(3), 10-13.

Unit Outline3 Overarching Questions • What do you learn about mysterious creatures and the study of them from these texts? • How does Tarshis use language to help her readers understand the creatures she writes about in these texts? TEXT 1 TEXT 2 “The Beast of Loch Ness” “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis by Lauren Tarshis 1.1 Comprehension 2.1 Comprehension • What do you learn about the Loch Ness Monster • What do you learn about giant squid from this and the study of mysterious animals from text? reading this text? • What places in the text are getting in the way • What places in the text are getting in the way of of your understanding? your understanding? 2.2 Interpretation 1.2 Interpretation • What evidence supports the existence of the • What evidence supports the existence of the giant squid? Loch Ness Monster? What evidence refutes its • Look across the evidence for the creatures existence? in both texts. Who collected the evidence? • Based on your understanding of the article, Whose evidence mattered? what kind of evidence seems to count as valid 2.3 Analysis “proof”? • How does Tarshis use language to help you 1.3 Analysis better understand the giant squid? • How does Tarshis use language to help you • What word would you use to describe the Loch better understand the creatures in her text? Ness Monster or the giant squid? Writing Across Texts You’ve been asked to help assemble a team to hunt for Bigfoot. Based on what you have read about the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, and other creatures, write a letter to other cryptozoologists in which you explain the qualities that a scientist joining the team should have. Then, explain the type of evidence that the team will need to collect to prove whether Bigfoot exists.

3 The questions guiding the work of the unit have been carefully and collaboratively crafted to support student engagement with the texts under study and student achievement of the learning goals of the unit. Changing the language of a question may alter the intellectual rigor and/or change the lesson’s or unit’s intention and purpose.

Materials by Task

Task Materials

• “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Comprehension of “The Beast of Loch Ness” • Questioning the Author Lesson for “The Beast of Loch Ness” • Access to Internet or dictionary 1.1 • Chart: “The Beast of Loch Ness” • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers • “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Gathering Evidence (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence) 1.2 • Handout: Explaining Evidence • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers • “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Bringing Creatures to Life (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Creating Monsters) 1.3 • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Comprehension of “Monster of the Sea” • Questioning the Author lesson for “Monster of the Sea” • Access to Internet or dictionary 2.1 • Chart: “Monster of the Sea” • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence) 2.2 • Organizer: Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence (from Task 1.2) • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Seeing the Giant Squid (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Giant Squid: Creating Monsters) • Organizer: Loch Ness Monster: Creating Monsters (from Task 1.3) 2.3 • Handout: Describing the Beast • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

Task Materials

• “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Writing Across Texts Writing Across Texts • Handout: Gr. 3 Writing Across Texts: Decision Tree Scoring Guide • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

Overarching Questions • What do you learn about mysterious creatures and the study of them from these texts? • How does Tarshis use language to help her readers understand the creatures she writes about in these texts? TEXT 1 TEXT 2 “The Beast of Loch Ness” “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis by Lauren Tarshis 1.1 Comprehension 2.1 Comprehension • What do you learn about the Loch Ness Monster • What do you learn about giant squid from this and the study of mysterious animals from text? reading this text? • What places in the text are getting in the way • What places in the text are getting in the way of of your understanding? your understanding? 2.2 Interpretation 1.2 Interpretation • What evidence supports the existence of the • What evidence supports the existence of the giant squid? Loch Ness Monster? What evidence refutes its • Look across the evidence for the creatures existence? in both texts. Who collected the evidence? • Based on your understanding of the article, Whose evidence mattered? what kind of evidence seems to count as valid 2.3 Analysis “proof”? • How does Tarshis use language to help you 1.3 Analysis better understand the giant squid? • How does Tarshis use language to help you • What word would you use to describe the Loch better understand the creatures in her text? Ness Monster or the giant squid? Writing Across Texts You’ve been asked to help assemble a team to hunt for Bigfoot. Based on what you have read about the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, and other creatures, write a letter to other cryptozoologists in which you explain the qualities that a scientist joining the team should have. Then, explain the type of evidence that the team will need to collect to prove whether Bigfoot exists.

“The Beast of Loch Ness” 15

Comprehension TASK 1.1 • What do you learn about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals from reading this text? • What places in the text are getting in the way of your understanding?

Situating the Task Duration TEXT 1 2 class sessions “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis 1.1 Comprehension Why This Task Now? • What do you learn about the Loch Ness Monster This first task asks students to read “The Beast and the study of mysterious animals from of Loch Ness” (a) to understand Tarshis’s ideas reading this text? about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of • What places in the text are getting in the way of mysterious animals and (b) to identify places your understanding? that students are finding difficult or confusing. 1.2 Interpretation This is the first of several readings students will • What evidence supports the existence of the do of this text. This task has two purposes. Loch Ness Monster? What evidence refutes its existence? • The purpose of “a” is for students to get • Based on your understanding of the article, the gist of Tarshis’s ideas about the Loch what kind of evidence seems to count as valid Ness Monster and the study of mysterious “proof”? animals so that they have a foundation from 1.3 Analysis which to work for later tasks. • How does Tarshis use language to help you • The purpose of “b” is for students to better understand the creatures in her text? identify places that prevent them from fully understanding Tarshis’s ideas and for teachers to learn what aspects of the text students are finding difficult.

Materials • “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Comprehension of “The Beast of Loch Ness” • Questioning the Author Lesson for “The Beast of Loch Ness” • Access to Internet or dictionary • Chart: “The Beast of Loch Ness” • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

TASK Teaching Approach 1.1 Setting Up the Unit: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To introduce students to the Mysteries of the Deep unit, including the unit’s texts and overarching questions.

• Introduce students to the Mysteries of the Deep unit. Let them know that they will spend the next two weeks exploring different mysterious animals. • Tell students that they will read, write about, and discuss two nonfiction texts. o The first text, “The Beast of Loch Ness,” by Lauren Tarshis, was published in 2014 in Scholastic Storyworks, a magazine that publishes texts for students in grades 3-6. o The second text, “Monster of the Sea,” by Lauren Tarshis was published in 2012 in Scholastic Scope, which also publishes texts for students. “Monster of the Sea” is an adaptation of “The Squid Hunter” by David Grann, which was published in The New Yorker magazine in May of 2004. • Share the two overarching questions that guide the work in the unit: o What do you learn about mysterious creatures and the study of them from these texts? o How does Tarshis use language to help her readers understand the creatures she writes about in these texts?

Teacher Note “The Beast of Loch Ness,” is placed first in this unit for several reasons:

• “The Beast of Loch Ness” introduces students to informational texts that use narrative techniques by following the story of the Mackays as they first see a mysterious creature in the Loch Ness. The second unit text, “Monster of the Sea,” also begins with a narrative; however, it is brief and the text quickly moves into the history of the sighting of the giant squid. • Second, “The Beast of Loch Ness” introduces students to the term cryptozoologist and the study of mysterious or mythical animals, cryptozoology. This information is helpful for students to know as they consider the evidence for the mysterious animals mentioned in both texts. “Monster of the Sea” discusses the study of mysterious animals and the scientists who do this work, but does not name either one. • Finally, “The Beast of Loch Ness” is a difficult text that will require support for students to comprehend its big ideas. By placing a more difficult text first, students will be able to practice working with a difficult text with guided support before they move to “Monster of the Sea,” a text they may be able to work with more independence by using the practices learned with “The Beast of Loch Ness.”

Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3-5 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the comprehension task on “The Beast of Loch Ness.”

• Provide students with the handout titled Comprehension of “The Beast of Loch Ness” (found on page 21). • Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections with students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

“The Beast of Loch Ness” 21 TASK Comprehension of TASK “The Beast of Loch Ness” 1.1 1.1 Purpose Today you will read “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis for the first time. The purpose of this first reading is for you to get the gist of what Tarshis is saying about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals. This will help you with later tasks when we look at the kinds of evidence people have for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster and when we study Tarshis’s language use.

Task Step 1: As you read “The Beast of Loch Ness,” please do two things:

• Underline or highlight places where you learn something about the Loch Ness Monster and where you learn something about the study of mysterious animals. • Mark with a question mark (“?”) places in the text where you are confused or unsure about what Tarshis is trying to say. Don’t mark every unknown word. Instead, mark places where you are having difficulty figuring out the gist of what the author is writing.

Step 2: Work with your partner to

• share and talk about places where you learned something about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals. Try to restate these places in your own words, and • share places you marked with a “?”. Do what you can to figure out the meaning and restate these places in your own words. That will mean doing things like looking up words on the Internet or in a dictionary, talking your ideas out together, and rereading the sentences before and after the confusing place to see if that helps.

Preparing Students to Read: Whole Group (8-10 minutes) Purpose: To provide support for students’ text comprehension by engaging them in a Questioning the Author (QtA) discussion before releasing the task to students for independent work.

Teacher Note We have provided a Questioning the Author lesson for the entire text (see page 22). These text-based questions guide students through the reading of the text, asking them to pause periodically to discuss what’s going on, what they’re learning about the people, ideas, and events, and how what they’re learning connects to what they’ve already read in this text. We recommend that you use the questions as written. These questions have been crafted to support students’ understanding of the text and prepare them for the work that follows. Moving away from the questions may prevent students from fully getting the gist of the text and being prepared to tackle later tasks.

• Tell students that you will read “The Beast of Loch Ness” aloud as they follow along on their copy of the text. Let students know that they will be participating in a QtA discussion where you will stop reading after every one or two paragraphs so that they can discuss what they are learning. • Remind students of the two things they should be marking while reading: 1. Underline or highlight places where they are learning something about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals. 2. Mark with a question mark (“?”) places where they are confused or unsure of what the author is trying to say. • Display an enlarged copy of the text. • Begin reading aloud using the QtA lesson (found on page 22) to guide the reading and discussion. As you read, mark the text in the same way that students will mark their copies. • Each time you pause in the reading to pose questions using the QtA lesson, ask students to quickly share o what they’ve learned so far about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals. o places where they are confused or unsure of what the author is trying to say. Tell students to hold their questions and confusions for now since some may become clear further in the text, others may become unimportant, and a few may need further unpacking later.

TASK Modeling Thinking and Process: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purposes: To give students the opportunity, before they are asked to work in pairs, to work as a whole group 1.1 to make meaning of places in the text where they were confused.

• Tell students that you are going to model untangling places in the text that students may have found difficult or got in their way of understanding what Tarshis is saying. • Ask students to volunteer one place in the beginning of the text that they didn’t understand. • Model untangling that place by doing things such as: o Looking up the words or reference on the Internet or in a dictionary. o Talking ideas out with a student volunteer who understood the moment. o Rereading the lines or paragraphs before and after the moment to see what insight they provide. • Ask students to share any other methods they could use to help understand places in the text where they may be confused or unsure of what the author is trying to say.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (10 minutes) Purpose: To provide a supportive environment with high accountability for students to share and continue to develop their understanding about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals.

• Ask students to take about ten minutes to work on Step 2 of the Comprehension of “The Beast of Loch Ness” handout. • Circulate around the room to listen in on students’ conversations. Identify students who are doing a good job untangling places where they are confused or unsure of what the author is trying to say. • Monitor students’ ideas during the pair work. Make mental notes of students’ misunderstandings about the text and places where they struggled. Use this knowledge to determine points that might need to be clarified during the upcoming whole group discussion.

Guiding Students to Consensus: Whole Group (10-15 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to reach a common understanding about the gist of the text and to determine what students find difficult about the text.

• Bring students together as a whole group. • First, invite students to share what they learned about the Loch Ness Monster from this text, and then have them share what they learned about the study of mysterious animals. Have students cite line numbers and their marked moments to support what they share. There are different ways to have students share what they learned. o You might begin by having students share the moments they marked and then move from those moments to bigger ideas about what they learned. o Another option is to display an enlarged copy of the text and move through it as a whole group, inviting students to share what they learned for sections of the text. o A third option is to invite students to share in any order, making sure that all students have an opportunity to contribute their ideas. • Record students’ responses on a chart entitled “The Beast of Loch Ness”. Be sure that each item is supported with line numbers.

Learning Target TASK Below are some examples of what students may say that they learned about the Loch Ness 1.1 Monster and the study of mysterious animals from this text. Work with students to state some of the bigger ideas of what they learned rather than restating all the details in the text. It’s fine at this point if students aren’t capturing everything that is written below. They will have additional opportunities to expand their understanding of the text in subsequent tasks.

The Loch Ness Monster

• The Loch Ness Monster appeared to be black and have a humped back. (lines 8-9) • Local people had been seeing the monster for centuries. (lines 22-23) • People who had seen the monster found it to be terrifying. (line 22) • Cryptozoologists have come up with many theories about the Loch Ness Monster including that it is a water mammal, a fish, and a dinosaur. (lines 69-72) • Tim Dinsdale led 56 expeditions to find the Loch Ness Monster. He was convinced that he saw the monster in 1960 during one of his expeditions and was able to take pictures of it. (lines 82-86) • British experts analyzed Dinsdale’s picture of the Loch Ness Monster and believed it was between 12 and 16 feet long. (lines 87-89) • Scientists used sonar to search for the Loch Ness Monster in 2003, but did not find anything but logs and buoys. (lines 97-100) • More than 1,000 people have claimed to have seen the monster since 1933. (lines 106- 108)

The study of mysterious animals

• Sailors have been reporting seeing a creature called the kraken for hundreds of years. After a fisherman managed to collect a 19-foot tentacle, scientists discovered that the kraken was a giant squid. (lines 39-45) • Scientists set on an expedition to find the Komodo dragon after hearing the stories of the locals. (lines 54-58) • People who search for mythical and legendary creatures are called cryptozoologists. These people are inspired to search for creatures by incredible stories told by the people who have seen them. (lines 59-63) • Scientists reject cryptozoologists’ theories about the Loch Ness Monster because there are many unanswered questions surrounding each theory. (lines 76-81) • Robert Rines says that to make a discovery you need to have an open mind, ideas, and adventure. (lines 117-119)

• Next, invite a few students to share moments that got in the way of their understanding of what the author is trying to say, how they untangled those moments, and what they now understand those moments to mean. After one person shares, ask if there are others who marked the same moments and what they now understand about those moments. • If students have areas of difficulty or confusion that they could not untangle, invite others to help or consider jumping in to provide guidance and clarity quickly and/or directing students to available resources to quickly locate what is needed. • Finally, ask students what they found most interesting or surprising about the content of the text.

TASK Teacher Notes 1.1 Note pertaining to untangling difficult or confusing places: The goal is to support independent sensemaking without providing an explanation of the meaning of the text.

• Emphasize to students that readers do not need to know every word or reference in a text in order to learn or move to deeper work. Students don’t need, for example, to learn the details about the kraken or the Komodo dragon. Going down this road will move students away from the ideas of the text and can be counterproductive. Ask students: “Do you really need to know more about that to get the basics of what’s happening here?” • In order to support independence, use resources quickly and sparingly to provide just enough clarity to move forward. • Remind students that there will be several more studies of this text, and that this later work will reveal what more, if anything, needs to be understood or researched.

Note pertaining to students’ impressions of the Loch Ness Monster: Students may begin to mention that the Loch Ness Monster or other creatures in this text sound scary. If this happens, ask students which words or phrases in the text make them think that. As students share evidence from the text, add their thinking to a chart with the title Scary Monsters. Keep this chart posted throughout the unit and add to it as students mention their feelings about the creatures in the unit texts. Students will use this chart in Task 2.3 when they are asked to select a word to describe either the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid based on evidence in these two texts.

Comprehension of TASK “The Beast of Loch Ness” 1.1

Purpose Today you will read “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis for the first time. The purpose of this first reading is for you to get the gist of what Tarshis is saying about the Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious animals. This will help you with later tasks when we look at the kinds of evidence people have for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster and when we study Tarshis’s language use.

Task Step 1: As you read “The Beast of Loch Ness,” please do two things:

Step 2: Work with your partner to

TASK Questioning the Author Lesson 1.1 “The Beast of Loch Ness” Read Lines Say and/or Ask Elicit Notes/Options 1-13 What did we read so far? In 1933, the Mackays were driving It’s important that around a lake when they saw a students recognize large beast in the water. that the initial event occurred many years ago, but the search for the Loch Ness Monster has continued over the years. 14-31 What’s this section about? The Mackays didn’t want to tell anyone about what they saw because they thought no one would believe them. However, local people had been telling stories about the creature for years.

Follow up (if needed): What do Some people didn’t believe others think of the sighting? the Mackays, but others were fascinated by the story. 32-38 What point is Tarshis making Tarshis is saying that sometimes here? stories of these creatures are made up, like the stories of creatures in books. But, sometimes these creatures are real. 39-58 How does the information in Like the Mackays, the people in this section connect to what we this section had seen mysterious just talked about? creatures and told their stories to others. Some people didn’t believe the stories, but others did. When scientists investigated the stories, they were able to tell that the creatures were real.

Read Lines Say and/or Ask Elicit Notes/Options TASK 59-67 What did we learn here? There are people who study 1.1 mythical creatures; they are called cryptozoologists. They think there are still creatures to be found, including the Loch Ness Monster.

Follow up (if needed): What did Cryptozoology is the study of we learn about cryptozoology? mythical creatures. Many people believe that cryptozoology is not real science. 68-81 What is Tarshis explaining Tarshis is explaining some of the here? theories that cryptozoologists have about the Loch Ness Monster.

Follow up: What do people think Scientists think these theories of these various theories? are wrong because there is strong evidence to suggest that the Loch Ness Monster does not exist. 82-104 How does the information in Scientists, such as Tim Dinsdale this section add to what we just and Robert Rines, have searched discussed? the Loch looking for the creature. Dinsdale was able to capture a photograph of what he believed was the Loch Ness Monster, but scientists couldn’t confirm that it was. Sonar has been used to search the water, but no creatures have been found. 105-121 What point is Tarshis making in Tarshis is saying that many people this last section? have probably seen something in Loch Ness, but that their imaginations probably turned what they saw into a creature. However, Tarshis also says that Robert Rines believes that there is something waiting to be found in the water.

Follow up: How does Tarshis’s Tarshis is saying that belief has comment about the power of led to many important discoveries. belief relate to the information If scientists continue to believe in this text? in the Loch Ness Monster, it is possible that they will find it one day.

TASK Interpretation 1.2 • What evidence supports the existence of the Loch Ness Monster? What evidence refutes its existence? • Based on your understanding of the article, what kind of evidence seems to count as valid “proof”?

Situating the Task Duration TEXT 1 2-3 class sessions “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis 1.1 Comprehension Why This Task Now? • What do you learn about the Loch Ness Monster Now that students have read the text to get the and the study of mysterious animals from gist of the big ideas, they are ready to take a reading this text? more focused look at the evidence that supports • What places in the text are getting in the way of the existence of the Loch Ness Monster and your understanding? other mysterious creatures. The purposes of this 1.2 Interpretation second task are for students to • What evidence supports the existence of the Loch Ness Monster? What evidence refutes its • sort through the evidence in the text to existence? identify the type of evidence and who • Based on your understanding of the article, provided it. what kind of evidence seems to count as valid • determine which evidence counts as proof “proof”? of a creature existing and which does not 1.3 Analysis and why. • How does Tarshis use language to help you • practice effectively explaining their ideas in better understand the creatures in her text? writing.

This task scaffolds to the Writing Across Texts task.

Materials • “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Gathering Evidence (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence) • Handout: Explaining Evidence • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

Teaching Approach TASK Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) 1.2 Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the next task on “The Beast of Loch Ness,” in which they will examine the evidence used to support the theories that the Loch Ness Monster exists and that it does not exist.

• Provide students with the handout titled Gathering Evidence (found on pages 32-33).

32 “The Beast of Loch Ness” TASK Gathering Evidence 1.2 Purpose You may have noticed that Lauren Tarshis writes about the evidence that both common people and scientists have to show that the mysterious creatures in “The Beast of Loch Ness” exist. Some of this evidence is physical, meaning that you can touch it and show it to other people. Other evidence is visual. That means the evidence is something people saw with their eyes, but they were unable to take a picture or video of it. The purpose of this task is for you to learn what evidence counts as proof when people are trying to figure out whether a creature like the Loch Ness Monster or giant squid is real. Task Working with a partner 1. Reread the text. As you read, mark places where you see Tarshis writing about the evidence that different people have to show that a mysterious creature exists. 2. Complete the graphic organizer. a. In the left column, write the evidence that people have for a mysterious creature. Be sure to write the line numbers to show where you found this evidence. b. In the “What type of evidence is it?” column, write whether the evidence is visual or physical. c. In the “Who provided the evidence?” column, write who collected or found the evidence. d. In the “Did the evidence count as proof that the creature exists?” column, write “yes” or “no” to show if the evidence proved that the mysterious creature exists. Please use the back of the organizer to add additional evidence that does not fit in the chart. Be prepared to share your chart with the class.

• Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

Modeling Thinking and Process: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To give students the opportunity to work as a whole group to identify and categorize the evidence provided in the text before they are asked to do this in pairs.

• Explain to students that proof is evidence that can show that something is true or real. • Tell students that you are going to work together to do four things: (1) identify places in the text where Tarshis writes about evidence of a mysterious creature, (2) classify the evidence as physical or visual, (3) identify who collected the evidence, and (4) write whether the evidence counts as proof that the creature exists. • Display the Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence organizer and an enlarged copy of the text. • Tell students that you are going to reread the text up to line 31 aloud and that students should listen for when Tarshis writes about the evidence that a mysterious creature exists. Explain to students that when they hear evidence they should raise their hands. (See the Learning Target below for some possible ideas.) • As students locate evidence, ask them to put the evidence in their own words or to provide the quotation from the text. Write students’ thinking in the left column of the organizer. • Next, ask students how they would classify the evidence. For the first piece of evidence, you might need to prompt students by asking them: Is the evidence physical or is it visual? Add students’ thinking to the “What type of evidence is it?” column. • Then ask students who provided the evidence. Add their thinking to the “Who provided the evidence?” column. • Finally, ask students if the evidence provided proved that the creature exists. Add their thinking to the “Did the evidence count as proof that the creature exists?” column.

TASK Differentiation 1.2 If you find that students are able to successfully identify places where Tarshis writes about evidence, have them work with a partner on the Gathering Evidence task with the rest of the text.

For students who need additional support, continue rereading the text aloud and asking students to identify and explain the proof as outlined above until you find they are ready to tackle the text in pairs.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (10 minutes) Purposes: To provide students with the opportunity to work in pairs to identify and categorize the evidence Tarshis writes about for mysterious creatures.

• Ask students to complete the Gathering Evidence handout with the rest of the text. • Circulate around the room to monitor students’ progress. Be on the lookout for students who are having difficulty getting started or getting beyond identifying evidence. • Make mental notes of pairs who have particularly interesting or insightful ideas about evidence and whether it counted as proof.

Facilitating Student Sensemaking: Whole Group (7-10 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to reach a common understanding about the evidence available for the mysterious creatures mentioned in the article and whether or not the evidence counted as proof.

• Convene the whole group. • Facilitate a discussion in which students share the information they recorded on their organizers. Be sure that students support their ideas with evidence from the text. Invite those students who had particularly interesting or insightful ideas to share them during this discussion. • Encourage various pairs to explain their organizers and what they did and thought about to complete the information in the organizer.

Learning Target TASK The organizer below provides some of the evidence that students may write about in their 1.2 organizer. Students may identify more or different evidence than what is shown below.

Did the evidence count What evidence does Tarshis What type of Who provided as proof that write about in this text? evidence is it? the evidence? the creature exists? “Then Aldie saw something she Mackays and would never forget…over the next Visual evidence other local No few weeks, more people claimed to people have seen the creature.” (lines 7-26) “For hundreds of years, sailors told stories of a hideous creature…” Visual evidence Sailors No (lines 39-40) “a fisherman and his son spotted Yes, when it was one in the waters….They managed Physical Fishermen confirmed by to cut off a 19-foot piece of evidence scientists tentacle.” (lines 43-45) “The men were relaxing on the rocky shores when one of them Visual evidence Fishermen No heard something approaching from behind…” (lines 49-52) “He organized an expedition… he found a population of ferocious, Visual evidence Scientist Yes meat-eating lizards…” (lines 55-58)

What do you notice about the evidence that counts as proof? What type of evidence is it? Who collected that evidence?

The evidence that is believed is both physical evidence—the tentacle of the giant squid—and visual evidence—the scientists finding the Komodo dragon during an expedition. Fishermen collected the evidence for the giant squid, but Tarshis writes that it was scientists who confirmed what it was and said that it proved the existence of the giant squid. Scientists were the ones who collected the evidence that proves the Komodo dragon exists. Based on this text, a scientist needs to be involved for evidence to count as proof.

Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the next part of this task in which they will write an explanation of the evidence used to support the theories about the Loch Ness Monster’s existence.

TASK • Provide students with the handout titled Explaining Evidence (found on page 34).

1.2 34 “The Beast of Loch Ness”

TASK Explaining Evidence 1.2

Purpose Now that you’ve looked at the evidence that has been collected to prove whether the creatures mentioned in the text exist, you are ready to write about the Loch Ness monster.

The purposes of this task are for you to explain the evidence that currently exists for the Loch Ness monster and explain the type of evidence that you think still needs to be collected in order to prove that the creature exists.

Task 1. Draft an explanation in which you answer the following questions. Be sure you use evidence from Tarshis’s text to support your explanation. What evidence is there for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster? What type of evidence needs to be collected to prove that the Loch Ness Monster does exist? 2. Peer review: Swap your explanation with a partner. As you read your partner’s explanation, please do the following things: a. highlight where ideas are clearly stated, b. underline evidence used to support those ideas, and c. circle explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas. You should also note what the writer did well and what the writer could improve. 3. Individually, revise your explanation based on feedback from your partner. 4. Write a short reflection in which you say how you revised your explanation based on your partner’s feedback. Explain what feedback you used and what feedback you didn’t use, and why.

• Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

Modeling Thinking and Process of Writing an Explanation: Whole Group (10 minutes) Purpose: To model for students the thinking and process of writing an explanation and to support students in understanding the characteristics of an explanation.

• Tell students that you are going to model writing a paragraph explaining the proof for the giant squid. • Display your completed Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence organizer and highlight the evidence for the giant squid. • Tell students that as you model writing a paragraph they should pay attention to what you’re saying, doing, and thinking. • Think aloud and model writing a paragraph in which you use information from your completed organizer. As appropriate, have students participate in the writing by asking them to help you craft the paragraph. o Talk through the process of reviewing what’s on the chart to come up with a big idea/topic sentence (e.g., the proof you are going to explain). o Model writing a paragraph for or with students. Demonstrate writing a topic sentence and supporting that with evidence from the chart and text. o Help students see how you incorporate and explain evidence to support your ideas, especially how you’re using the work you’ve already charted in your organizer. • When you’ve finished your paragraph, identify—or have students identify—where you have a clearly stated idea, relevant textual evidence to support your idea, and an explanation that articulates how the evidence supports your idea. These are the criteria that students will use to write their explanations in this task, in Task 2.3, and in the Writing Across Texts task. • Finally, ask students to share what they noticed you saying, doing, and thinking as you wrote the paragraph. If students do not have a great deal of experience explaining ideas in writing, record their responses on a chart titled Explaining Ideas. Keep this chart visible for students as they write their explanations in this task, in Task 2.3, and in the Writing Across Texts task.

Learning Target TASK Below is one way to write about the evidence for the giant squid: 1.2

Fishermen and sailors have been collecting visual evidence for the giant squid, which they called “the kraken,” for years. Tarshis says, “For hundreds of years, sailors told stories of a hideous creature with a large round head, a jagged-edged beak, and enormous, powerful tentacles…Despite hundreds of eye witness accounts, most people dismissed the kraken as a tall tale” (lines 39-43). There was no physical evidence that the kraken was real and people did not believe the stories being told. In 1873, fishermen were able to bring physical evidence to scientists. Tarshis says, “This slimy specimen convinced skeptics that the old sailors’ stories were absolutely true” (lines 45-46). It was the physical evidence that proved that the kraken, now called the giant squid, exists. According to this text, physical evidence that can be examined by a scientist is needed to show a creature exists and what type of animal it is.

Differentiation Not all students will need the level of scaffolding provided above. Consider your students’ level of proficiency with writing explanations and make adjustments as needed. Below are three potential modifications.

• Instead of thinking aloud through writing the explanation, ask students to be more involved in the writing. For example, ask them to come up with a big idea/topic sentence rather than you thinking aloud to come up with one. • Rather than modeling how to write an explanation, provide students with an explanation you wrote before class and have them identify where the idea is clearly stated, where relevant textual evidence is used to support the idea, and where there is an explanation that articulates how the evidence supports the idea. • Skip modeling altogether. Instead, have students begin writing an explanation without a model. If you see students struggle with aspects of writing an explanation, provide a targeted model at that point.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Individual Work (15 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to work independently to draft an explanation of the proof for or against the Loch Ness Monster and the type of proof that should be collected to show that the monster exists.

• Ask students to begin drafting their explanations. • As students are working, circulate around the room to provide support and assistance as needed. Identify students who do a fairly good job writing their explanations. Ask those students if they would be willing to share their work with the class, including what they did and thought about to draft the explanation. Students’ explanations do not have to be perfect. In fact, students learn a great deal from imperfect examples. • When most students are finished with their draft explanations, bring them together as a whole group.

TASK Monitoring Peer Review: Pair Work (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their thinking and for peers to provide feedback on the clarity of their 1.2 explanations.

• Ask students to get together with a partner. • As students read their partner’s explanation, they should do the following things: o Highlight where ideas are clearly stated. o Underline evidence used to support those ideas. o Circle explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to their ideas.

Readers should also note what the writers did well and what could be improved.

• Have pairs share their feedback and note places where they may need to revise their writing. • As students share, circulate around the room to listen in on students’ conversations. This will give you the opportunity to see what additional writing support students may need.

Differentiation If students are new to peer review or struggle to provide feedback to their peers, bring students together in small groups or as a whole group and model the process of providing feedback on a student’s explanation.

• Ask for a volunteer to have his/her explanation reviewed by the group. • Display an enlarged copy of the student’s explanation. • Read the paper aloud. Working as a group, review the explanation: highlight where ideas are clearly stated, underline evidence used to support those ideas, and circle explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas. • Note (1) what the writer does well and (2) what the writer can do to improve the writing. Model providing—and helping students to provide—useful and specific feedback. • When you and the group have finished reviewing and providing feedback, ask the writer to share what s/he learned from the group’s feedback and to talk about how s/he will revise the explanation given the feedback.

Facilitating Student Sharing: Whole Group (10 minutes) Purposes: To enable students to see multiple models of effective explanations, to hear what the writers did and thought about to compose their explanations, and to hear how the writers plan to revise their explanations based on feedback.

• Invite those students whom you identified previously as doing a fairly good job writing their explanations to share their explanations with the class one at a time. • Ideally, writers would display their explanations so that all students can see them. If that isn’t possible, have writers read their explanations aloud to the class. After writers share, ask them to o Talk about what they did and thought about to compose their explanations. o Share the feedback they received from their partner. o Explain how they plan to revise their explanations based on peer feedback.

Differentiation TASK If students need more practice with the characteristics of explanations, have them identify 1.2 those characteristics (i.e., clearly stated ideas, relevant textual evidence to support ideas, and explanations that articulate how the evidence supports or links to the ideas) in the explanations that writers share.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Individual Work (10 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with the opportunity to revise their writings by implementing the feedback that they received.

• Ask students to revise their explanations based on the feedback they received. • Let students know that they don’t have to act on all of their partner’s feedback. In other words, if there’s feedback that they don’t agree with (i.e., they don’t think it will improve their explanations), they may choose to ignore it. • Students should be prepared to hand in their revisions and reflections (Step 4) at the end of this period or the beginning of the next.

Important Collect students’ explanations now or in the following lesson. Review their explanations to gauge their understanding of the text; to determine what support students need in order to develop, support, and explain their ideas effectively; and to identify student samples that may serve as models of effective explanations.

Effective explanations will include clearly stated ideas, relevant textual evidence to support ideas, and explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas. Use this knowledge and the student samples to plan follow-up mini-lessons focused on supporting students to write effective explanations.

We suggest using the samples in the following way:

Identify the aspects of writing an effective explanation that many students are finding difficult. For example, many students have difficulty connecting relevant textual evidence to their ideas. Locate papers that do this effectively, and in different ways, so that students can see there are various ways to incorporate textual evidence. Ask the authors of those papers you identified if you can share their work with the class. Photocopy those papers without students’ names, and ask the class to talk about where and how the author explains how the evidence they selected supports or links to their ideas.

TASK Gathering Evidence 1.2

Purpose You may have noticed that Lauren Tarshis writes about the evidence that both common people and scientists have to show that the mysterious creatures in “The Beast of Loch Ness” exist. Some of this evidence is physical, meaning that you can touch it and show it to other people. Other evidence is visual. That means the evidence is something people saw with their eyes, but they were unable to take a picture or video of it.

The purpose of this task is for you to learn what evidence counts as proof when people are trying to figure out whether a creature like the Loch Ness Monster or giant squid is real.

Task Working with a partner

1. Reread the text. As you read, mark places where you see Tarshis writing about the evidence that different people have to show that a mysterious creature exists. 2. Complete the graphic organizer. a. In the left column, write the evidence that people have for a mysterious creature. Be sure to write the line numbers to show where you found this evidence. b. In the “What type of evidence is it?” column, write whether the evidence is visual or physical. c. In the “Who provided the evidence?” column, write who collected or found the evidence. d. In the “Did the evidence count as proof that the creature exists?” column, write “yes” or “no” to show if the evidence proved that the mysterious creature exists.

Please use a separate piece of paper to add additional evidence that does not fit in the chart. Be prepared to share your chart with the class.

TASK 1.2 creature exists? as proof that the Did the evidence count Who provided the evidence? What type of evidence is it? Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence What evidence does Tarshis write about in this text? What evidence does Tarshis

TASK Explaining Evidence 1.2

Purpose Now that you’ve looked at the evidence that has been collected to prove whether the creatures mentioned in the text exist, you are ready to write about the Loch Ness Monster.

The purposes of this task are for you to explain the evidence that currently exists for the Loch Ness Monster and explain the type of evidence that you think still needs to be collected in order to prove that the creature exists.

Task 1. Draft an explanation in which you answer the following questions. Be sure you use evidence from Tarshis’s text to support your explanation.

What evidence is there for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster? What type of evidence needs to be collected to prove that the Loch Ness Monster does exist?

2. Peer review: Swap your explanation with a partner. As you read your partner’s explanation, please do the following things: a. highlight where ideas are clearly stated, b. underline evidence used to support those ideas, and c. circle explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas.

You should also note what the writer did well and what the writer could improve.

3. Individually, revise your explanation based on feedback from your partner.

4. Write a short reflection in which you say how you revised your explanation based on your partner’s feedback. Explain what feedback you used and what feedback you didn’t use, and why.

Analysis TASK 1.3 • How does Tarshis use language to help you better understand the creatures in her text?

Situating the Task Duration TEXT 1 1.5-2 class sessions “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis 1.1 Comprehension Why This Task Now? • What do you learn about the Loch Ness Monster Now that students have an understanding of the and the study of mysterious animals from Loch Ness Monster and the study of mysterious reading this text? creatures, they are ready to take a more focused • What places in the text are getting in the way of look at what Tarshis does as a writer to help the your understanding? reader better understand the creatures in her 1.2 Interpretation text. The purposes of this third task are: • What evidence supports the existence of the Loch Ness Monster? What evidence refutes its • for students to study how Tarshis works as existence? a writer to • Based on your understanding of the article, o incorporate dialogue to create a sense what kind of evidence seems to count as valid of what it was like to experience “proof”? seeing the Loch Ness Monster. 1.3 Analysis o create a sense of fear about the Loch • How does Tarshis use language to help you Ness Monster and the other creatures better understand the creatures in her text? in the text by using nouns and adjectives that depict the creatures as scary or frightening. • for students to work as writers to create their own sentences using some of the methods that Tarshis uses in this text.

Materials • “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Bringing Creatures to Life (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Creating Monsters) • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

TASK Teaching Approach 1.3 Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the next task on “The Beast of Loch Ness,” in which they will analyze how Tarshis uses language that helps them better understand the mysterious creatures she writes about.

• Provide students with the handout titled Bringing Creatures to Life (found on pages 42-43. This is a two-page handout that includes the Creating Monsters graphic organizer).

42 “The Beast of Loch Ness” TASK Bringing Creatures to Life 1.3 Purpose Tarshis provides readers with a lot of details about the creatures and people’s experiences with seeing them in “The Beast of Loch Ness.” She gives readers a sense of what it must have been like to get a glimpse of those creatures. The purpose of this task is for you to study what Tarshis does to help readers understand the creatures and to practice working as a writer to create a sentence or two using language in a way similar to Tarshis. Task Part A:

Working with a partner:

1. Reread the text and highlight places or moments where Tarshis describes the creatures or people’s experiences with the creatures. Look for places that create a picture in your mind of the creatures and what it was like to see or find them.

2. Complete the graphic organizer. a. In the left column, write the moments you identified. b. In the middle column, explain what each moment helps you understand about the creature. c. In the right column, describe as best you can what Tarshis is doing as a writer to bring the creature to life. 3. Post your graphic organizer for a gallery walk. Part B: To be completed after you participate in a whole group discussion on Part A. WriteLike: Now that you’ve looked at how Lauren Tarshis uses language to help the reader better understand the creatures in her text, you and a partner will have a turn doing the same thing.

Choose one of the moments from the first column of your graphic organizer. Then, work with a partner to imitate these sentences by writing your own sentences to describe the experience of seeing a real or made up creature. Remember, to use language in similar ways to Tarshis to make the animal come to life for your reader.

• Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections with students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations. Let students know that they will work on and discuss Part A before moving to Part B, but that you are reviewing the whole thing with students now so that they can get a sense of the whole task.

Modeling Thinking and Process: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purposes: To give students the opportunity to work as a whole group to identify moments where Tarshis describes creatures, explain what they learned from those moments, and explain what Tarshis does as a writer to bring the creatures or people’s experiences with the creatures to life.

• Explain to students that you are going to work together to do three things: (1) highlight places where Tarshis is describing the creatures or people’s experiences with the creatures, (2) explain what each place reveals about the creatures, and (3) explain what Tarshis does as a writer to bring the creatures or experiences with the creatures to life. • Display the Creating Monsters organizer and an enlarged copy of the text. • Reread the title of the text to line 31. As students follow along, ask them to raise their hands when they come to a moment where Tarshis is describing a creature or the experience of seeing a creature. (See the Learning Target below for some possible ideas.) • Write the moment that is identified in the left column of the organizer. • Then ask students what they learn about the creature from the moment. Use their ideas to write an explanation in the second column of the organizer. • Ask students to describe what the author is doing as a writer to bring the creatures or experiences with the creature to life. Use students’ thinking to write an explanation in the third column of the organizer.

Differentiation TASK If you find that students are able to identify and explain moments where Tarshis describes 1.3 the creatures or people’s experiences with the creatures, ask them to work on Part A of the Bringing Creatures to Life handout with the rest of the text.

For students who need additional support, continue rereading the text and asking students to identify and explain moments where Tarshis describes the creatures or people’s experiences with them until you feel they are ready to engage with the task in pairs.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (10 minutes) Purposes: To provide students with the opportunity to work in pairs to study moments in the text where Tarshis describes the creatures or people’s experiences with them, explain what they learn about the creatures from those moments, and explain what the author does as a writer to bring the creatures to life.

• Ask students to complete Part A of the Bringing Creatures to Life handout with the rest of the text. • Circulate around the room to monitor students’ progress. Be on the lookout for students who are having difficulty getting started or getting beyond identifying moments where Tarshis describes the creatures or people’s experiences with the creatures.

Facilitating Student Sensemaking: Gallery Walk (15 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their moments and thinking about how the author works as a writer to bring creatures to life in this text.

• Bring students together as a whole group. • Ask students to move around the room to view each pair’s charts. • As students read their classmates’ work, ask them to note where their charts or thinking is similar and where it is different. Students should also note any questions that they have. • Provide time for students to view all posted work. • Circulate around the room with students to view the charts and review what students are capturing in their notes. This will help to inform where you should begin the whole group discussion of students’ responses.

Teaching Option Rather than asking students to post paper versions of their charts, ask pairs to post their charts to a class blog, wiki, or message board. After students have posted, ask them to view each post and to note similarities and differences, as well as any questions they may have.

TASK Important 1.3 As you are viewing the students’ organizers, make mental notes about which students were successful in identifying moments where Tarshis describes the creatures or people’s experiences with the creatures, explaining what the moment helped them to understand about the creatures, and describing what the author did as a writer to bring the creatures to life. Use that information to decide how to facilitate the whole group discussion.

• If most students’ explanations of the moments and what the author did are valid and complete, then you might simply have students note the similarities and differences in the organizers. As part of this discussion, students will naturally talk about what the author did as a writer. • If there are only a few students who have valid and complete organizers, you might consider asking those students to explain their organizers and what they did to complete them.

You’ll also want to note and name Tarshis’s methods in the moments that students have selected if they don’t name them during the whole group discussion. For example, you may find that many of the selected moments use narrative elements such as dialogue or description. If students don’t have the language to name these methods, you’ll want to draw their attention to those moments and name them for them.

Facilitating Student Sensemaking: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their thinking with the whole group and to come to a shared understanding of what they learned from the selected moments and about what the author does as a writer to bring the creatures to life.

Learning Target The organizer below provides a few moments that students may select as helping them better understand the creatures in this text. Students may have identified more or different moments than what is shown below. What’s important is that students are able to explain what each moment helps them understand and to describe what the author is doing as a writer to bring creatures to life. It’s fine if students don’t have the language to describe what the author is doing. This is something you can name during the whole group discussion.

Moment Where Tarshis What Each Moment What Tarshis Is Doing is Describing a Creature Reveals About the As a Writer to Bring the or People’s Experiences Creature Creature to Life With a Creature Title: “The Beast of Loch By using the word “Beast” The author uses the noun Ness” in the title Tarshis suggests “Beast” as a replacement that the creature in Loch for “animal” to let the reader Ness is mean and something know that this isn’t an to be afraid of. ordinary animal; instead, it is something to be afraid of.

Moment Where Tarshis TASK What Each Moment What Tarshis Is Doing is Describing a Creature Reveals About the As a Writer to Bring the 1.3 or People’s Experiences Creature Creature to Life With a Creature “Then Aldie saw something This moment reveals that The author uses descriptive that she would never forget. the monster was big and language to create a picture The water rippled, and a dark and that the experience of what it was like for the giant creature seemed to of seeing it scared the Mackays to see the Loch rise out of the loch…Aldie Mackays. Ness Monster. grabbed her husband’s arm, trembling with fright “Stop! The author also uses dialogue The beast!” she gasped.” (“Stop! The beast!” she (lines 7-10) gasped) to create a feeling of fear in the text. “‘It was horrible,’ reported a This moment reveals that The author uses dialogue to schoolteacher… ‘It looked different people have let readers hear the different right at me.’” (lines 27-30) claimed to have seen the perspectives of what the Loch Loch Ness Monster. They Ness Monster looked like and have different impressions to show that all the different of what it looked like, but people seeing it thought it they were all scared by it. was scary. “For hundreds of years, This moment shows that The author uses adjectives sailors told stories of a sailors had been seeing the such as “hideous,” “jagged- hideous creature with a kraken for years and that edged,” and “powerful” to large round head, a jagged- it was a scary and huge give me a sense of how scary edged beak, and enormous, creature. and strong the kraken was. powerful tentacles.” (lines 39-40) “It was an immense lizard This moment tells me that The author uses the adjective maybe 10 feet long. It was the Komodo dragon was big “enormous” and the verb rushing toward them, its and fast. It also tells me that “rushing” to help me get a beady eyes glistening with it was not friendly. sense of what the Komodo menace.” (lines 51-52) dragon looked like as well as its speed.

The author also uses personification—“glistening with menace”— to describe the Komodo dragon’s eyes.

Revisiting the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for Part B of the task on “The Beast of Loch Ness,” in which they will write like Tarshis and use language to help their audience understand a creature.

• Ask students to revisit the handout titled Bringing Creatures to Life.

TASK 42 “The Beast of Loch Ness” TASK Bringing Creatures to Life 1.3

1.3 Purpose Tarshis provides readers with a lot of details about the creatures and people’s experiences with seeing them in “The Beast of Loch Ness.” She gives readers a sense of what it must have been like to get a glimpse of those creatures. The purpose of this task is for you to study what Tarshis does to help readers understand the creatures and to practice working as a writer to create a sentence or two using language in a way similar to Tarshis.

Task Part A:

Working with a partner:

3. Post your graphic organizer for a gallery walk.

Part B: To be completed after you participate in a whole group discussion on Part A.

WriteLike: Now that you’ve looked at how Lauren Tarshis uses language to help the reader better understand the creatures in her text, you and a partner will have a turn doing the same thing.

• Review the “Task Part B” section, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

Modeling Thinking and Process: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purposes: To give students the opportunity to work as a whole group to write sentences using language in a way similar to Tarshis before being asked to do the work in pairs.

• Explain to students that you are going to model writing descriptive sentences about a creature in a way similar to how Tarshis describes creatures in her text. • Direct students to lines 39-40 and tell them that these are the lines you choose as a model for the sentences you’ll write. • As you model writing your sentences, think aloud about how Tarshis describes the creature in her sentences and how you think you will describe the creature in your sentences. Alternatively, involve students in the writing by asking them to help you describe your creature in a way that is similar to how Tarshis described the kraken in the selected lines. (See the Learning Target below for an example.)

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair WriteLike (5 minutes) Purpose: To allow students to practice using language in ways similar to Tarshis.

• Ask students to work on Part B of the Bringing Creatures to Life handout. • Circulate around the room as students are working to provide support and assistance as needed. Be on the lookout for students who have particularly interesting descriptive sentences and ask these students if they would be willing to share their writing with the whole group.

Sharing Student Thinking: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their writing with the whole group and for the group to hear multiple models of how creatures can be described.

• Ask those pairs that you identified to share their writing with the group. Allow volunteers to share their writing as well. • After each pair shares, ask the class to o explain what the sentence reveals about the creature, and o describe what the writers are doing to bring the creature to life in their texts.

Support students to describe what the authors are doing in their own words before naming what TASK the authors are doing for them. 1.3

Learning Target Below is one example of how students may complete the WriteLike task. Students may select a different moment in the text to imitate; the important thing is that students are able to use a method Tarshis uses to help their readers see the creature that they are describing.

Lines from “The Beast of Loch Ness”: “For hundreds of years, sailors told stories of a hideous creature with a large round head, a jagged-edged beak, and enormous powerful tentacles.” (lines 39-40)

WriteLike: For ten years, I’ve told stories of a stubborn beagle with a fat round belly, a high-pitched howl, and a never-ending need for food.

Facilitating Metacognitive Work: Whole Group StepBack (3 minutes) Purpose: To make visible for students what they learned from studying and imitating Tarshis’s descriptions.

• Ask students to reflect on the task they just engaged in by discussing their responses to the following questions: o What did you learn from today’s work about how authors work as writers to help the reader understand creatures? o How can you use what you’ve learned today when you read and write texts in the future?

Teacher Note Remember to keep adding to the Scary Monsters chart when students mention that the Loch Ness Monster or other creatures in this text sound scary, frightening, or something similar. Be sure to keep this chart posted throughout the unit and add to it as students mention their feelings towards the creatures in the unit texts. Students will use this chart in Task 2.3 when they are asked to select a word to describe either the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid based on evidence in these two texts.

TASK Bringing Creatures to Life 1.3

Purpose Tarshis provides readers with a lot of details about the creatures and people’s experiences with seeing them in “The Beast of Loch Ness.” She gives readers a sense of what it must have been like to get a glimpse of those creatures. The purpose of this task is for you to study what Tarshis does to help readers understand the creatures and to practice working as a writer to create a sentence or two using language in a way similar to Tarshis.

Task Part A:

Working with a partner:

3. Post your graphic organizer for a gallery walk.

Part B: To be completed after you participate in a whole group discussion on Part A.

WriteLike: Now that you’ve looked at how Lauren Tarshis uses language to help the reader better understand the creatures in her text, you and a partner will have a turn doing the same thing.

Choose one of the moments from the first column of your graphic organizer. Then, work with a partner to imitate these sentences by writing your own sentences to describe the experience of seeing a real or made up creature. Remember to use language in similar ways to Tarshis to make the animal come to life for your reader.

Creating Monsters TASK 1.3

Moment Where Tarshis is What Tarshis Is Doing As a Describing a Creature or What Each Moment Reveals Writer to Bring the Creature People’s Experiences With a About the Creature to Life Creature

“Monster of the Sea” 47

Comprehension TASK 2.1 • What do you learn about giant squid from this text? • What places in the text are getting in the way of your understanding?

Situating the Task Duration TEXT 2 2 class sessions “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis 2.1 Comprehension Why This Task Now? • What do you learn about giant squid from this This first task asks students to read “Monster of text? the Sea” (a) to understand Tarshis’s ideas about • What places in the text are getting in the way the giant squid and (b) to identify places that of your understanding? they are finding difficult or confusing. This is the 2.2 Interpretation first of several readings students will do of this • What evidence supports the existence of the text. This task has two purposes. giant squid? • Look across the evidence for the creatures in • The purpose of “a” is for students to get the both texts. Who collected the evidence? Whose gist of Tarshis’s ideas about the giant squid evidence mattered? so that they have a foundation from which 2.3 Analysis to work for later tasks. • How does Tarshis use language to help you • The purpose of “b” is for students to better understand the giant squid? identify places that prevent them from • What word would you use to describe the Loch fully understanding Tarshis’s ideas and for Ness Monster or the giant squid? teachers to learn what aspects of the text students are finding difficult.

Materials • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Comprehension of “Monster of the Sea” • Questioning the Author lesson for “Monster of the Sea” • Access to Internet or dictionary • Chart: “Monster of the Sea” • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

TASK Teaching Approach 2.1 Setting Up the Unit: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To introduce students to the second unit text, “Monster of the Sea,” and remind students of the unit’s overarching questions.

• Remind students of the two overarching questions that guide the work in the unit: o What do you learn about mysterious creatures and the study of them from these texts? o How does Tarshis use language to help her readers understand the creatures she writes about in these texts? • Let students know that they will continue their study of these questions and reading informational texts by reading the second text in this unit, “Monster of the Sea,” by Lauren Tarshis and published in Scholastic Scope magazine in 2012.

Teacher Note “Monster of the Sea” is placed second in this unit for three reasons:

• Because “Monster of the Sea” is less complex than “The Beast of Loch Ness,” it affords students the opportunity to read it independently using the practices they learned through reading “The Beast of Loch Ness.” • Students built knowledge about cryptozoology and several different creatures in “The Beast of Loch Ness.” This information is helpful background knowledge that will support students’ comprehension of “Monster of the Sea.” • “Monster of the Sea” is an adaptation of David Grann’s “The Squid Hunter,” which appeared in The New Yorker in May of 2004. Lauren Tarshis adapted Grann’s text so that the vocabulary and sentence structures are less complex and more accessible to young readers. Because this text isn’t exclusively the work of Lauren Tarshis, we feel it is important to introduce students to Tarshis’s writing style with a text that is entirely hers, “The Beast of Loch Ness,” before asking them to look at this skilled author’s adaptation of another author’s text.

Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3-5 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the comprehension task on “Monster of the Sea.”

• Provide students with the handout titled Comprehension of “Monster of the Sea” (found on page 54). • Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections with students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

54 “Monster of the Sea” TASK TASK Comprehension of 2.1 “Monster of the Sea” 2.1 Purpose Today you will read “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis for the first time. You’ll use the same techniques that you used to read “The Beast of Loch Ness.” The purpose of this first reading is for you to get the gist of what Tarshis is saying about the giant squid. This will help you with later tasks when we look at the evidence for the giant squid and Tarshis’s use of language.

Task Step 1: As you read “Monster of the Sea,” please do two things:

• Underline or highlight places where you learn something about the giant squid. • Mark with a question mark (“?”) places in the text where you are confused or unsure about what the author is trying to say. Remember to only mark places where you are having difficulty figuring out the gist of what the author is writing.

Step 2: Work with your partner to

• share and talk about places where you learned something about the giant squid. Try to restate these places in your own words. • share places you marked with a “?”. Do what you can to figure out the meaning and restate these places in your own words. That will mean doing things like looking up words, talking your ideas out together, and rereading the sentences before and after the confusing place to see if that helps you.

Important We have provided a Questioning the Author (QtA) lesson for the entire text; however, when it is clear that students are grasping the ideas in the text, have them finish reading it independently. We recommend that you use the QtA lesson through line 38, and then determine if students are ready to read the remainder of the text independently.

• Tell students that you will begin reading “Monster of the Sea” aloud as they follow along. Let students know that they will be participating in another Questioning the Author discussion. Remind students that you will stop reading after every few paragraphs so they can discuss what they are learning. • Remind students of the two things they should be marking while reading: 1. Underline or highlight places where they are learning something about the giant squid. 2. Mark with a question mark (“?”) places where they are confused or unsure of what the author is trying to say. • Display an enlarged copy of the text. • Begin reading aloud using the QtA lesson (found on page 55) to guide the reading and discussion. As you read, mark the text in the same way that students will mark their copies. • Each time you pause in the reading to pose questions using the QtA lesson, ask students to quickly share o what they’ve learned so far about the giant squid. o places where they are confused or unsure of what Tarshis is trying to say. Tell students to hold their questions and confusions for now since some of what they don’t understand may become clear further in the text, some may become unimportant, and some may need further unpacking later.

TASK Differentiation 2.1 Not all students will need to have the entire text read aloud to them using the QtA lesson. We recommend that you use the QtA lesson through line 38, and then determine whether students are able to finish the rest of the text independently.

• If you find that students have the gist of the text by line 38 and understand how they should be marking it, have them finish the reading on their own. If not, read another section aloud to the whole group using the QtA lesson and repeat the steps above until students are ready to read the remaining text independently. • If you feel that some students will be unable to read the text independently, continue using the QtA lesson with that group of students while the other students finish reading the text independently.

If students do read independently, share the following tips with them. Tell students that If they begin to feel confused or frustrated while reading, stop reading and try one of the things below:

• Recap: Try to restate what you’ve read by saying something to yourself like: “So, what this means is…” or “What the author is telling me is….” When you are able to restate what you read, write down a few words in the margin to help you remember your thinking. • Reread and recap: If you can’t recap what you’ve read on the first try, reread that section and try again. • Move on: If you still can’t say back what you’ve read, move on. You can ask a partner to help you make sense of that part once you’ve finished reading the text.

Keep these tips displayed or provide them to students as a handout to remind students of the things they can do to independently understand the text.

Monitoring Independent Reading: Individual Work (15 minutes) Purpose: To give students practice in reading a text on their own after they’ve been provided some support and modeling for that process with the beginning of the text.

• Ask students to finish reading “Monster of the Sea,” following the directions for Step 1 on the Comprehension of “Monster of the Sea” handout. • As students are reading, circulate around the room to monitor students’ progress. Be on the lookout for students who are having difficulty with staying focused or marking the text. If necessary, pull small groups of students together to read the text or review marking the text.

Important Engage students in the rest of the lesson after they have finished reading “Monster of the Sea.”

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (10 minutes) TASK Purpose: To provide a supportive environment with high accountability for students to share and continue to develop their understanding about the giant squid. 2.1

• Ask students to take about ten minutes to work on Step 2 of the Comprehension of “Monster of the Sea” handout. • Circulate around the room to listen in on students’ conversations. Identify students who are doing a good job of untangling places where they are confused or unsure of what the author is trying to say. • Monitor students’ ideas during the pair work. Make mental notes of students’ misunderstandings about the text and places where they struggled. Use this knowledge to determine points that might need to be clarified during the upcoming whole group discussion.

Differentiation If you find that students need additional practice to untangle places in the text that may prevent them from understanding what the author is trying to say, bring them together in small groups or as a whole group to model the process for them again. Do this by asking students to share a place that got in their way of understanding; then model untangling that place by doing things like looking up the words or the reference on the Internet or in a dictionary, talking ideas out with a partner, and rereading the lines or paragraphs before and after the moment to see what insight they provide.

• Bring students together as a whole group. • Invite students to share what they learned about the giant squid from this text. Have students cite line numbers and their marked moments to support what they share. There are different ways to have students share what they learned. o You might begin by having students share the moments they marked and then move from those moments to bigger ideas about what they learned. o Another option is to display an enlarged copy of the text and move through it as a whole group, inviting students to share what they learned in each section of the text. o A third option is to invite students to share in any order, making sure that all students have an opportunity to contribute their ideas. • Record students’ responses on a chart that you title “Monster of the Sea.” Be sure that each item is supported with line numbers.

TASK Learning Target 2.1 Below are some examples of what students may say that they learned about the giant squid from this text. Work with students to state some of the bigger ideas of what they learned about the giant squid rather than restating all the details in the text. It’s fine at this point if students aren’t capturing everything that is written below. They will have additional opportunities to expand their understanding of the text in subsequent tasks.

• Olivier de Kersauson experienced a giant squid in 2003 when it wrapped its tentacles around his ship. (lines 1-10) • The creature de Kersauson saw was 30 feet long and had shiny skin and long arms covered in suckers. (lines 12-15) • Sailors have been reporting seeing the kraken for centuries, but scientists thought they were just tall tales until 1873 when a fisherman collected a 19-foot tentacle. (lines 29-38) • No scientist had seen a giant squid until 2004. They had only collected body parts that had washed ashore or had been caught in fishing nets. (lines 42-43) • Squid squads were created in the 1960s to use sonar technology to find a giant squid, but they were unsuccessful. (lines 44-50) • Steve O’Shea has been studying giant squid since 1996. He discovered that they can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and can grow to 60 feet. They live thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean and have enormous eyes. (lines 50-52; 60-64) • In 2004 with the help of an underwater camera, scientists first saw a giant squid. The giant squid was stuck under a rock. (lines 73-82) • In 2005 scientists were able to capture video of the giant squid; however no one has ever captured a live giant squid. (lines 82-84)

• Next, invite a few students to share moments that got in the way of their understanding of what the author is trying to say, how they untangled those moments, and what they now understand those moments to mean. After one person shares, ask if there are others who marked the same moments and what they now understand about those moments. • If students have areas of difficulty or confusion that they could not untangle, invite others to help, or consider jumping in to provide guidance and clarity quickly and/or directing students to available resources to quickly locate what is needed. • Finally, ask students what they found most interesting or surprising about the content of the text.

Teacher Notes TASK Note pertaining to untangling difficult or confusing places: Once again, the goal is to support 2.1 independent sensemaking without providing an explanation of the meaning of the text.

• Remind students that readers do not need to know every word or reference in a text in order to learn or move to deeper work. Students don’t need, for example, to learn the details about materials toxic to squid. Going down this road will move students away from the ideas of the text and can be counterproductive. Ask students, “Do you really need to know more about that to get the basics of what’s happening here?” • In order to support independence, use resources quickly and sparingly to provide just enough clarity to move forward. • Remind students that there will be several more studies of this text, and that this later work will reveal what more, if anything, needs to be understood or researched.

Note pertaining to students’ impressions of the giant squid: Remember to keep adding to the Scary Monsters chart as students mention that the giant squid or other creatures sound scary, frightening, or something similar. Be sure to keep this chart posted throughout the unit and add to it as students mention their feelings towards the creatures in the unit texts. Students will use this chart in Task 2.3 when they are asked to select a word to describe either the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid based on evidence in these two texts.

TASK Comprehension of 2.1 “Monster of the Sea”

Purpose Today you will read “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis for the first time. You’ll use the same techniques that you used to read “The Beast of Loch Ness.” The purpose of this first reading is for you to get the gist of what Tarshis is saying about the giant squid. This will help you with later tasks when we look at the evidence for the giant squid and Tarshis’s use of language.

Task Step 1: As you read “Monster of the Sea,” please do two things:

Step 2: Work with your partner to

Questioning the Author Lesson TASK “Monster of the Sea” 2.1 Read Lines Say and/or Ask Elicit Notes/Options 1-24 What’s the author talking about In 2003, Olivier de Kersauson and in these first two sections? his crew were on a ship that was attacked by a giant creature that they claimed was a giant squid. 25-38 How does this information Sailors have been telling stories connect to what we already of giant creatures, like the one read? seen by Olivier de Kersauson for years. Scientists thought the sailors were crazy until a fisherman collected a 19-foot tentacle. 39-50 What did we learn here? Scientists have figured out that what sailors were seeing was a giant squid. They’ve been collecting giant body parts from the squid for years, but no one has seen a live one. Oceanographers had been searching deep in the ocean since the 1960s but had no luck in finding the creature. 51-71 Now what did we find out? Steve O’Shea has been trying to find the giant squid since 1996. Follow up: What did we find He’s discovered that they can out about Steve O’Shea? What weigh up to 1,000 pounds, grow about his role in “unlocking the to 60 feet long, and have huge mysteries?” eyes that help identify danger so they can quickly escape when they feel threatened. He captured 17 baby giant squid, but they all died. 72-89 What final point is Tarshis Tarshis says that even though we making? don’t know a lot about it, the giant squid is real. Scientists were able to capture images of the giant squid in 2004 and video in 2005.

Follow up (if needed): What did We learned that the giant squid we learn about the giant squid? lives 3,000 feet below the surface and is the size of a school bus.

TASK Interpretation 2.2 • What evidence supports the existence of the giant squid? • Look across the evidence for the creatures in both texts. Who collected the evidence? Whose evidence mattered?

Situating the Task Duration TEXT 2 1 class session “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis 2.1 Comprehension Why This Task Now? • What do you learn about giant squid from this Now that students have read the text to get the text? gist of the big ideas about the giant squid, they • What places in the text are getting in the way are ready to take a more focused look at the of your understanding? evidence that proves it exists. Then students 2.2 Interpretation will look across the evidence in both unit texts • What evidence supports the existence of the and come to a conclusion about whose evidence giant squid? matters when trying to prove that a creature • Look across the evidence for the creatures in exists. The purposes of this second task are for both texts. Who collected the evidence? Whose students to evidence mattered? 2.3 Analysis • sort through the evidence in the text to • How does Tarshis use language to help you categorize the type of evidence—visual or better understand the giant squid? physical—and identify who provided the • What word would you use to describe the Loch evidence. Ness Monster or the giant squid? • look across the evidence in both unit texts to determine which evidence counted as proof that the squid exists and which did not and why.

This task scaffolds to the Writing Across Texts task.

Materials • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence) • Organizer: Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence (from Task 1.2) • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

Teaching Approach TASK Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) 2.2 Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the next task on “Monster of the Sea,” in which they will examine the evidence used to show that the giant squid exists.

• Provide students with the handout titled Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence (found on pages 62-63. This is a two-page handout that includes a graphic organizer).

62 “Monster of the Sea”

TASK Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence 2.2

Purpose As she did in “The Beast of Loch Ness,” Lauren Tarshis writes in “Monster of the Sea” about the evidence that’s been gathered to show that the giant squid exists. The purpose of this task is for you to study the evidence Tarshis writes about, and to identify the evidence that counts as proof. This is similar to what you did with the evidence in “The Beast of Loch Ness.”

Task Part A:

Working with a partner

1. Reread the text. As you read, mark places where you see Tarshis writing about the evidence that different people have to show that the giant squid exists.

2. Complete the provided graphic organizer. a. In the far left column, write the evidence for the giant squid. Use your own words and be sure to include line numbers to show where you found this information in the text. b. In the “What type of evidence is it?” column, write whether the evidence is visual or physical. c. In the “Who provided the evidence?” column, write who collected the evidence. d. In the “Did the evidence count as proof that the creature exists?” column, write “yes” or “no” to show whether the evidence proved that the giant squid exists. e. Finally, respond to the questions at the bottom of organizer: “What evidence supports the existence of the giant squid?” and “Who collected the evidence?” Part B: Work with a partner to look across the information on the Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence and the Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence organizers. Then, individually, respond to the following question in your Reader Writer Notebook:

According to what you’ve read in these two texts, which evidence counts as proof that a creature exists? Whose evidence seems to matter the most?

• Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations. Let students know that they will work on and discuss Part A before moving to Part B, but that you are reviewing the whole thing with students now so that they can get a sense of the whole task.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (10 minutes) Purposes: To provide students with the opportunity to work in pairs to identify and explain places where Tarshis writes about evidence for the giant squid.

• Ask students to complete Part A of the Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence handout. • Circulate around the room to monitor students’ progress. Be on the lookout for students who are having difficulty getting started or getting beyond identifying evidence. • Make mental notes of pairs who are successful at identifying the evidence in the text and whether it was believed.

Differentiation Some students may need extra support to begin or complete Part A. Consider the following adaptations to provide students with extra support:

• Before students begin, ask them to review their notes from Task 1.2 on “The Beast of Loch Ness.” Have students share the evidence they identified, who collected the evidence, and whether the evidence was used as proof to show that a creature does exist. Have students use their thinking from Task 1.2 as a place to begin when studying evidence for the giant squid in this text. • Model the process of skimming the first few paragraphs of the text and locating evidence for the giant squid. As you skim, think aloud about what you’re seeing in the text. This will allow students to hear what you are looking for as you skim the text. After you finish, discuss with students what they heard you say and think. Chart and post students’ thinking to serve as a guide for them.

TASK Important 2.2 As you are viewing the students’ organizers, make mental notes about which students are successfully completing the organizer. Use that information to decide how to facilitate the whole group discussion.

• If most students’ organizers are valid and complete, then you might begin the discussion by having students share responses to the questions: What evidence supports the existence of the giant squid? Who collected the evidence? • If there are only a few students who have valid and complete organizers, you might consider asking those students to explain their organizers and what they did to complete them. • A second option if you have only a few students who have valid and complete organizers is to display a copy of the organizer and have the class discuss each piece of evidence as a group, using the questions on the organizer as a guide.

Facilitating Student Sensemaking: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to reach a common understanding about the evidence available for the giant squid and what evidence counted as proof that the giant squid exists.

• Convene the whole group. • Engage students in a discussion about their organizers. See the above “Important” note for ways to structure the whole group discussion. • Encourage various pairs to explain their organizers and what they did and thought about to complete the information in the organizer.

Learning Target The organizer below provides some of the evidence that students may write about in their organizer. Students may identify more or different evidence than what is shown below. What’s important is that students are able to explain what they notice about the type of evidence that is used as proof to show that a creature exists.

Did the evidence What evidence What type of Who provided the count as proof does Tarshis write evidence is it? evidence? that the creature about in this text? exists? Olivier de Kersauson and his crew reported Olivier de Kersauson Visual evidence No seeing a giant squid and his crew in 2003. (lines 1-10) In 1873, a fisherman found a 19-foot Yes, when it was tentacle near Physical evidence Fishermen confirmed by Newfoundland. scientists (lines 35-36)

In 1996, a fisherman TASK showed Steve 2.2 O’Shea the corpse of Physical evidence Fishermen Yes a giant squid. (lines 52-53) In 2004, two Japanese scientists saw a giant squid. Visual & physical Scientists Yes They took pictures evidence and got an 18-foot tentacle. (lines 73-82) In 2005, the same Japanese scientists Visual & physical Scientists Yes filmed a giant squid. evidence (lines 82-84) What evidence supports the existence of the giant squid? Who collected the evidence? Physical evidence examined by scientists proved the existence of the giant squid. For example, Tarshis says that the tentacle brought to scientists in 1873 proved the giant squid really exists (lines 35-38). In 2004 and 2005, scientists collected both pictures and video, which were used as further evidence of the existence of the giant squid (lines 73-84).

Revisiting the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) Purpose: To remind students of the directions and expectations for Part B of this task on “Monster of the Sea.”

• Review Part B of the Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence handout, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

62 “Monster of the Sea”

TASK Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence 2.2

Task Part A:

Working with a partner 1. Reread the text. As you read, mark places where you see Tarshis writing about the evidence that different people have to show that the giant squid exists.

Part B:

Work with a partner to look across the information on the Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence and the Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence organizers. Then, individually, respond to the following question in your Reader Writer Notebook:

According to what you’ve read in these two texts, which evidence counts as proof that a creature exists? Whose evidence seems to matter the most?

TASK Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with the opportunity to work in pairs to craft a statement about what evidence 2.2 counts as proof based on the information in the two texts.

• Ask students to complete Part B of the Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence handout. • Circulate around the room to monitor students’ progress. Be on the lookout for students who are having difficulty getting started. • Make mental notes of pairs who have particularly interesting or insightful ideas about the evidence and who should collect it.

Differentiation If students need support comparing the information in the Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence and the Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence organizers, bring students together in small groups or as a whole group and review the organizers together. Begin by reviewing the evidence that counted as proof. Then think aloud about the similarities, asking students if they agree or disagree with your thinking and why. Help students draft a statement about that evidence. Move to looking at who collected the evidence that counted as proof. Think aloud about what you notice about these people and help students to draft a statement.

Facilitating Student Sharing: Whole Group (10 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their thinking with the whole group and to come to a shared understanding of the evidence that counts as proof according to the information in these texts.

• One at a time, invite pairs to share their thinking about the evidence that counts as proof in these texts and whose evidence mattered most. • After each pair shares, ask the class if they agree or disagree and to explain why. • Continue to share in the same manner until all the similarities and differences have been shared.

Learning Target Below is one example of what students might say in response to the questions in Part B. Student responses may be similar or different to what is written below. The important thing is that students are able to support their statements with evidence from both texts.

Looking at the evidence from both texts, the evidence that counts as proof is evidence that can be shown to other people and that a scientist can say is real. For example, Tarshis says that video and a photograph of the Loch Ness Monster was taken but that scientists were unable to say that the creature captured on film was the Loch Ness Monster (lines 84-96), so that evidence doesn’t count as proof. But, in “Monster of the Sea,” Tarshis writes about scientists filming and taking photographs of the giant squid that count as proof that the squid exists (lines 73-84). While many people have seen photographs of both the Loch Ness Monster and the giant squid, only the giant squid photographs have been verified by scientists and used as proof that the squid exists.

Differentiation TASK Based on the explanations you collected from students in Task 1.2, you may find that students 2.2 need additional practice writing effective explanations. If that is the case, ask students to expand their responses to a more formal written explanation of the evidence that counts as proof. Remind students that an effective explanation has clearly stated ideas, relevant textual evidence to support the ideas, and explanations that articulate how the evidence supports the ideas. Also, remind students of their thinking on the Explaining Ideas chart. After students finish drafting their explanations:

• Have students participate in peer review, asking students to identify their peer’s ideas, evidence, and explanations and to identify what their peer did well and where they could improve their writing. • Have students revise their explanations based on the feedback they received. • Collect students’ explanations. Review their explanations to gauge their understanding of the text and to determine what support students need in order to develop, support, and explain their ideas effectively.

TASK Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence 2.2

Task Part A:

Working with a partner

1. Reread the text. As you read, mark places where you see Tarshis writing about the evidence that different people have to show that the giant squid exists.

Part B:

According to what you’ve read in these two texts, which evidence counts as proof that a creature exists? Whose evidence seems to matter the most?

TASK 2.2 exists? Did the evidence count as proof that the creature evidence? Who provided the it? What type of evidence is Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence What evidence does Tarshis write about in this text? What evidence does Tarshis What evidence supports the existence of giant squid? Who collected evidence?

TASK Analysis 2.3 • How does Tarshis use language to help you better understand the giant squid? • What word would you use to describe the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid?

Situating the Task Duration TEXT 2 2-3 class sessions “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis 2.1 Comprehension Why This Task Now? • What do you learn about giant Now that students have an understanding of the giant squid squid from this text? and the type of evidence that proves a creature exits, they are • What places in the text are getting ready to take a more focused look at what Tarshis does as a in the way of your understanding? writer to help the reader better understand the giant squid 2.2 Interpretation and to compare Tarshis’s use of language in both unit texts. • What evidence supports the This language study will help students select and explain one existence of the giant squid? word that best describes the Loch Ness Monster or the giant • Look across the evidence for the squid. The purposes of this task are for students to creatures in both texts. Who collected the evidence? Whose • study how Tarshis works as a writer to incorporate evidence mattered? figurative language, such as simile, and other 2.3 Analysis grammatical features to describe the giant squid. • How does Tarshis use language • compare how Tarshis works as a writer in both texts to help you better understand the to develop a general statement about Tarshis’s writing giant squid? style. • What word would you use to • synthesize what they know about the Loch Ness Monster describe the Loch Ness Monster or or the giant squid and how Tarshis writes about these the giant squid? creatures to select a word that best describes either creature. • practice explaining and supporting their ideas both orally and in writing.

This task scaffolds to the final Writing Across Texts task.

Materials • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Seeing the Giant Squid (two-page handout that includes the graphic organizer titled, Giant Squid: Creating Monsters) • Organizer: Loch Ness Monster: Creating Monsters (from Task 1.3) • Handout: Describing the Beast • Chart: Scary Monsters • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

Teaching Approach TASK Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) 2.3 Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the next task on “Monster of the Sea.”

• Provide students with the handout titled Seeing the Giant Squid (found on pages 72-73. This is a two- page handout that includes a graphic organizer).

72 “Monster of the Sea”

TASK Seeing the Giant Squid 2.3

Purpose Just as she did in “The Beast of Loch Ness,” Tarshis, in “Monster of the Sea,” provides readers with many details about giant squid and the experiences of seeing them. The purpose of this task is for you to study what Tarshis does to help readers understand the giant squid and to compare her use of language in both texts.

Task Part A: Working with a partner

1. reread the text and highlight the places where Tarshis is describing the giant squid or people’s experiences with the giant squid. Look for places that create a picture in your mind.

2. Complete the provided graphic organizer. a. In the left column, write the moments you identified. b. In the middle column, explain what each moment helps you understand about the creature. c. In the right column, describe as best you can what Tarshis is doing as a writer to bring the giant squid to life. Part B: 1. With your partner, share your graphic organizer with another pair of students. 2. As a group, compare the Loch Ness Monster: Creating Monsters organizer to the Giant Squid: Creating Monsters organizer. Talk together about what you notice that is the same and different about how Tarshis uses language to describe the creatures in the two texts. 3.. At the bottom of the Giant Squid: Creating Monsters organizer, write the similarities and differences you see between the two texts.

• Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (10 minutes) Purposes: To provide students with the opportunity to work in pairs to study moments in the text that help them see and better understand the giant squid, explain what they learn from those moments, and describe what Tarshis does as a writer to bring the giant squid to life.

• Ask students to work on Part A of the Seeing the Giant Squid handout. • Circulate around the room to monitor students’ progress. Be on the lookout for students who are having difficulty getting started or getting beyond identifying moments that describe the giant squid or people’s experiences with the giant squid. • When most pairs have completed Part A, ask them to join another pair to complete Part B.

Differentiation Some students may need extra support to begin or complete this task. Consider the following adaptations to provide students with extra support:

• Before students begin, ask them to review their notes from Task 1.3 on “The Beast of Loch Ness.” Have students share how Tarshis writes about the creatures in the moments they selected. Have students use their thinking from Task 1.3 as a place to begin when studying moments in this text. • Model the process of skimming the first few paragraphs of the text and locating moments where Tarshis is describing the giant squid or people’s experiences with the giant squid. As you skim, think aloud about what you’re seeing in the text. This will allow students to hear what you are looking for as you skim the text. After you finish, discuss with students what they heard you say and think. Chart and post students’ thinking to serve as a guide for them.

TASK Important 2.3 As you listen in on students’ conversations, make mental notes about which students were successful in identifying moments where Tarshis writes about the giant squid or people’s experiences with the giant squid, saying what the moments helped them to understand, and describing what Tarshis does as a writer to bring the giant squid to life. Use this information to decide how to orchestrate the whole group discussion.

• If most students’ explanations of the moments are valid and complete, then you might simply have students note the similarities and differences in the organizers. Students will naturally talk about what the author did as a writer as they engage in this discussion. • If there are only a few students who have valid and complete organizers, you might consider asking those students to explain their organizers and what they did to complete them.

As with the first time you did this task with Task 1.3, you’ll want to note and name Tarshis’s methods that are apparent in the moments that students have selected if they don’t name them during the whole group discussion.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Small Group Work (5 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their moments and thinking about how the author works as a writer to help the reader understand the giant squid.

• Ask pairs to join with another pair to work on Part B of the Seeing the Giant Squid handout. • Circulate around the room and listen in on students’ conversations. This will help to inform where you should begin the whole group discussion of students’ responses.

Facilitating Student Sensemaking: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share their thinking with the whole group and to come to a shared understanding of what they learn from the selected moments, what Tarshis does as a writer to describe the giant squid, and what’s similar and different about Tarshis’s writing in the two texts.

• Engage students in a discussion about their organizers. See the above “Important” note for ways to structure the whole group discussion. • Encourage various pairs to explain their organizers and what they did and thought about to complete the information in the organizer. • Finally, ask the class to look at the similarities and differences they came up with when comparing the two organizers. Work with students to develop a general statement that they could make about Tarshis as a writer from looking at these two texts.

Learning Target TASK Below are examples of a completed organizer. Students may have different moments or 2.3 identify different similarities and differences. What’s important is that students are able to explain what Tarshis is doing as a writer. It’s fine if students don’t have the language to describe what she is doing. This is something you can name during the whole group discussion.

Moment Where Tarshis What Each Moment What Tarshis Is Doing As is Describing a Creature Reveals About the Giant a Writer to Bring the Giant or People’s Experiences Squid Squid to Life With a Creature Title: “Monster of the Sea” By using the word “Monster” The author uses the noun in the title Tarshis suggests “Monster” as a replacement that the giant squid is for “animal” to let the reader something that people should know that this isn’t an be afraid of rather than it ordinary animal and that it is being just another animal something that is scary and living in the ocean. that people should be afraid of it. “The creature was like This moment reveals that The author uses simile to something out of a horror the creature was frightening let the reader know that the movie.” (line 12) and like something out of creature is like something someone’s imagination. from a scary movie— probably like something that no one had seen before and that frightens the people who see it. “For centuries, men have This moment reveals that The author uses adjectives returned home from long the creature was huge and like “enormous” and “squid- voyages with terrifying strong and scared the people like” to describe how the tales of enormous, squidlike who saw it. creature looked. beasts. These creatures, some said, were larger than The author also uses simile whales and stronger than to compare the creature to elephants.” (lines 29-32) the size of a whale and the strength of an elephant. “They have enormous eyes This moment shows how The author uses dashes —larger than those of any big the giant squid really is. to provide descriptive other animal—which enable I know this because Tarshis information about the squid. them to flee at the first sign says that its eyes are bigger of trouble.” (lines 63-64) than any other animal. It also tells me that the giant squid are nervous because they flee when they know there is trouble.

TASK “After days of searching with This moment tells me more The author uses simile to tell 2.3 an underwater camera, they information about how big me how big the squid is by caught sight of something the giant squid are with comparing it to a bus and its stuck under a rock: a creature something to compare it eyes to a basketball. the size of a school bus. Its to—I know it’s as big as a eyes as big as basketballs. It bus and that its eyes are as The author also uses the had eight flapping arms and big as basketballs. adjective “sinewy” to give two long sinewy tentacles.” me a better idea of what the (lines 77-80) I also learn that the giant tentacles look like. squid’s tentacles are skinny but have muscle because Tarshis says they are “sinewy.” Similarities in Tarshis’s writing in “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea”: Tarshis begins both texts by telling a story about someone who ran into a creature. Tarshis refers to both creatures as scary and frightening to the people who see them. Tarshis uses quotations from eyewitnesses to further explain the experience of seeing the creatures. Differences in Tarshis’s writing in “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea”: In “Monster of the Sea,” Tarshis begins talking about the giant squid like it was something scary, something out of a “horror movie.” Once she reveals that the squid is real, her language changes and she stops using words such as “frightening,” “terrifying,” and “beast.” In “The Beast of Loch Ness,” Tarshis refers to the Loch Ness Monster as something scary throughout the text. General Statement about Tarshis’s writing style: Lauren Tarshis incorporates the stories of different people to help introduce her reader to the topic she is writing about and to give the reader a sense of what it is like to be there as the people in her texts encounter these creatures.

Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (3 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for the next part of this task in which they will look across Tarshis’s use of language in both texts to select and explain one word to describe either the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid.

• Provide students with the handout titled Describing the Beast (found on page 74).

74 “Monster of the Sea”

TASK Describing the Beast 2.3

Purpose Now that you’ve looked at the information Tarshis provides in both texts and her use of language, you’re ready to explain what you think about one of the creatures in these texts. The purposes of this task are for you to (1) use what you know about the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid to select and explain one word that best describes the creature, and (2) to practice writing an effective explanation.

Task Working with a partner Step 1: Select a word that you think best describes the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid.

Step 2: Share your word with a partner. Explain to your partner why you selected that word and the evidence that you have to support your word choice.

Step 3: Draft an explanation to respond to the question below:

What word best describes the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid? Use evidence from Tarshis’s text to support your explanation.

Step 4: Peer Review: Swap your completed explanation with a partner. As you read your partner’s explanation, please do the following things:

a. highlight where ideas are clearly stated, b. underline evidence used to support those ideas, and c. circle explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas.

You should also note what the writer did well and what the writer could improve.

Step 5: Revise your explanation based on feedback from your partner. Then, write a short reflection in which you state how you revised your explanation based on your partner’s feedback. Explain what feedback you used and what feedback you didn’t use, and why.

• Review the “Purpose” and “Task” sections, giving students an opportunity to ask questions and clarify TASK expectations. 2.3 Modeling Process and Thinking: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To give students the opportunity to work as a whole group to develop a list of words to describe the Loch Ness Monster and the giant squid.

• Explain to students that they are now going to use what they’ve learned from their study of Tarshis’s language to come up with a list of words to describe the Loch Ness Monster and the giant squid. • Display the Loch Ness Monster: Creating Monsters organizer, the Giant Squid: Creating Monsters organizer, and the Scary Monsters chart. Explain to students that they’ve already begun to think about words that describe these creatures as they added to the Scary Monsters chart throughout the unit. • Model for students looking across the Loch Ness Monster: Creating Monsters organizer and the Giant Squid: Creating Monsters organizer to come up with additional words to describe the Loch Ness Monster. Try to select a word that won’t be obvious to students. (See the Learning Target below for some possible ideas.) Add your thinking and the evidence to support your thinking to the Scary Monsters chart. • Then ask students to share any words they think describe the Loch Ness Monster and the evidence they have to support their thinking. • Repeat the process for the giant squid.

Learning Target Below are some examples and evidence for the words students might say when describing the Loch Ness Monster and the giant squid.

Scary Monsters Words to Describe Loch Evidence Ness Monster Beast The title of the text. The Mackays refer to the Loch Ness Monster as a beast. (lines 7-10) Others who saw the Loch Ness Monster said it was horrible to look at. (lines 27-30) Scary Tarshis says that Aldie trembled with fright and she “gasped” when she saw the Loch Ness Monster, which implies it scared her. (lines 9-10) Mysterious Tarshis refers to the loch itself as being “mysterious.” (lines 20-22) Scientists have been unable to find the Loch Ness Monster or any evidence that it exists. (lines 92-96; 97-103) Imaginary Tarshis says that the human imagination is powerful and perhaps what people have been seeing in Loch Ness is a combination of floating objects and reflections from the sun. (lines 110-116)

TASK Words to 2.3 Describe the Evidence Giant Squid Horrifying Tarshis says the creature that de Kersauson and his crew saw was like “something out of a horror movie” and de Kersauson himself said that the experience of seeing the creature was terrifying. (lines 12; 21) Huge Tarshis describes the giant squid as having enormous tentacles, growing up to 60 feet long, and weighing 1,000 pounds. (lines 10; 60-61) Evasive Tarshis says that giant squid can dart away from cameras quickly. Despite the fact that they have been spotted for hundreds of years, the first time that physical proof of a live giant squid had been collected was in 2004. (lines 64-66; 73-84)

Monitoring Student Thinking: Pair Work (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To allow students to use what they know about the Loch Ness Monster and the giant squid to select one word to best describe either creature and to share their thinking with a partner before being asked to write.

• Ask students to work on Steps 1 and 2 of the Describing the Beast handout. • Circulate around the room as students are working to provide support and assistance as needed. • Make mental notes of students who have particularly interesting or insightful words to describe either the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Individual Work (10 minutes) Purpose: To provide an opportunity for students to write an explanation about their chosen word.

• Ask students to work on Step 3 of the Describing the Beast handout. • As students are working, circulate around the room to provide support and assistance as needed. Identify students who do a fairly good job writing their explanations. Ask those students if they would be willing to share their work with the class, including what they did and thought about to draft the explanation. Students’ explanations do not have to be perfect. In fact, students learn a great deal from imperfect examples. • When most students are finished with their draft explanations, bring students together as a whole group.

Differentiation Based on your observations of student writing in Task 1.2, you may find that students need additional support to write their explanations. Remind students of their thinking on the Explaining Ideas chart from Task 1.2.

• Choose a word that you think students are unlikely to select. Think aloud as you write an explanation of that word. Alternatively, involve students in the writing by asking them to come up with a big idea/topic sentence for your chosen word. • Rather than modeling how to write an explanation, provide students with an explanation you wrote before class and have them identify where the idea is clearly stated, where relevant textual evidence is used to support the idea, and where there is an explanation that articulates how the evidence supports the idea.

Monitoring Peer Review: Pair Work (5-7 minutes) TASK Purpose: To enable students to share their thinking and for peers to provide feedback on the clarity of their explanations. 2.3

• Ask students to get together with a partner to complete Step 4. • Have pairs share their feedback and note places where they may need to revise their writing. • As students share, circulate around the room to listen in on students’ conversations. This will give you the opportunity to see what additional writing support students may need.

Facilitating Student Sharing: Whole Group (7-10 minutes) Purposes: To enable students to see multiple models of effective explanations, to hear what the writers did and thought about to compose their explanations, and to hear how the writers plan to revise their explanations based on feedback.

• Invite those students whom you identified previously as doing a fairly good job writing their explanations to share their explanations with the class one at a time. • Ideally, writers would display their explanations so that all students can see them. If that isn’t possible, have writers read their explanations aloud to the class. After writers share, ask them to o talk about what they did and thought about to compose their explanations, o share the feedback they received from their partner, and o explain how they plan to revise their explanations based on peer feedback.

Differentiation If students need more practice with the characteristics of explanations, have them identify those characteristics (i.e., clearly stated ideas, relevant textual evidence to support ideas, and explanations that articulate how the evidence supports or links to the ideas) in the explanations that writers share.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Individual Work (10 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with the opportunity to revise their writing by implementing the feedback they received.

• Ask students to revise their explanations based on the feedback they received. • Let students know that they don’t have to act on all of their partner’s feedback. In other words, if there’s feedback that they don’t agree with (i.e., they don’t think it will improve their explanations), they may choose to ignore it. • Students should be prepared to hand in their revisions and reflections (Step 5) at the end of this period or the beginning of the next.

Important Collect students’ explanations. Review their explanations to gauge their understanding of the text; to determine what support students need in order to develop, support, and explain their ideas effectively; and to identify student samples that may serve as models of effective explanations.

Effective explanations will include clearly stated ideas, relevant textual evidence to support ideas, and explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas. Use this knowledge and the student samples to plan follow-up mini-lessons focused on supporting students to write effective explanations.

TASK Seeing the Giant Squid 2.3

Task Part A:

Working with a partner

1. reread the text and highlight the places where Tarshis is describing the giant squid or people’s experiences with the giant squid. Look for places that create a picture in your mind.

2. complete the provided graphic organizer. a. In the left column, write the moments you identified. b. In the middle column, explain what each moment helps you understand about the creature. c. In the right column, describe as best you can what Tarshis is doing as a writer to bring the giant squid to life.

Part B:

1. With your partner, share your graphic organizer with another pair of students.

2. As a group, compare the Loch Ness Monster: Creating Monsters organizer to the Giant Squid: Creating Monsters organizer. Talk together about what you notice that is the same and different about how Tarshis uses language to describe the creatures in the two texts.

3.. At the bottom of the Giant Squid: Creating Monsters organizer, write the similarities and differences you see between the two texts.

Giant Squid: Creating Monsters TASK 2.3

Moment Where Tarshis Is What Tarshis Is Doing as a Describing the Giant Squid or What Each Moment Reveals Writer to Bring the Giant Squid People’s Experiences With the About the Giant Squid to Life Giant Squid

Similarities in Tarshis’s writing in “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea”:

Differences in Tarshis’s writing in “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea”:

TASK Describing the Beast 2.3

Task Step 1: Select a word that you think best describes the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid.

Step 2: Share your word with a partner. Explain to your partner why you selected that word and the evidence that you have to support your word choice.

Step 3: Draft an explanation to respond to the question below:

What word best describes the Loch Ness Monster or the giant squid? Use evidence from Tarshis’s texts to support your explanation.

Step 4: Peer Review: Swap your completed explanation with a partner. As you read your partner’s explanation, please do the following things:

a. highlight where ideas are clearly stated, b. underline evidence used to support those ideas, and c. circle explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas.

You should also note what the writer did well and what the writer could improve.

Writing Across Texts 77

Writing Across Texts

You’ve been asked to help assemble a team to hunt for Bigfoot. Based on what you have read about the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, and other creatures, write a letter to other cryptozoologists in which you explain the qualities that a scientist joining the team should have. Then explain the type of evidence that the team will need to collect to prove whether Bigfoot exists.

Situating the Task Duration 2 class sessions Overarching Questions • What do you learn about mysterious creatures and the study of them from these texts? • How does Tarshis use language to help her readers understand the creatures she writes about in these texts? Why This Task Now? TEXT 1 TEXT 2 This final task builds from the work students “The Beast of Loch Ness” “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis by Lauren Tarshis have done with the unit texts to understand the creatures and the evidence that is 1.1 Comprehension 2.1 Comprehension • What do you learn about the Loch • What do you learn about giant squid needed to prove that creatures exist. More Ness Monster and the study of from this text? mysterious animals from reading • What places in the text are getting in specifically, this task extends the work of this text? the way of your understanding? Task 1.2 and Task 2.2 by asking students to • What places in the text are getting in the way of your understanding? 2.2 Interpretation write and explain the type of evidence that • What evidence supports the should be collected to prove whether Bigfoot 1.2 Interpretation existence of the giant squid? • What evidence supports the • Look across the evidence for the exists and who should collect that evidence. existence of the Loch Ness creatures in both texts. Who collected Monster? What evidence refutes the evidence? Whose evidence The purposes of this task are for students to its existence? mattered? • Based on your understanding of • develop an understanding about the the article, what kind of evidence 2.3 Analysis seems to count as valid “proof”? • How does Tarshis use language to qualities needed in scientists if they help you better understand the giant want to make discoveries. 1.3 Analysis squid? • How does Tarshis use language • What word would you use to describe • synthesize and apply what they to help you better understand the the Loch Ness Monster or the giant understand from these texts about the creatures in her text? squid? evidence that counts as proof to make Writing Across Texts You’ve been asked to help assemble a team to hunt for Bigfoot. Based on what you have recommendations about the type of read about the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, and other creatures, write a evidence needed to prove a different letter to other cryptozoologists in which you explain the qualities that a scientist joining the team should have. Then, explain the type of evidence that the team will need to collect to creature exists. prove whether Bigfoot exists. • continue to develop their proficiency with explaining and supporting their ideas.

Materials • “The Beast of Loch Ness” by Lauren Tarshis • “Monster of the Sea” by Lauren Tarshis • Handout: Writing Across Texts • Handout: Gr. 3 Writing Across Texts: Decision Tree Scoring Guide • Reader/Writer Notebook • Chart paper and markers

Teaching Approach Setting Up the Task: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear directions and expectations for their final task, which asks them to write across “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea.”

• Provide students with the handout titled, Writing Across Texts (found on page 84).

84 Writing Across Texts

Writing Across Texts “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea” We have spent time over the past weeks reading, talking, and writing about “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea,” both by Lauren Tarshis. We examined and compared the evidence used to prove mysterious creatures exist, and we explored how Tarshis uses language to bring the creatures in her texts to life. We also worked on writing explanations. All of this work has prepared you for this final task. Purposes This final task has two purposes: (1) to apply what you’ve learned from these two texts about the study of mysterious creatures and (2) to practice writing effective explanations. Task You’ve been asked to help assemble a team to hunt for Bigfoot. Based on what you have read about the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, and other creatures, write a letter to other cryptozoologists in which you:

• explain the qualities that a scientist joining the team should have. • explain the type of evidence that the team will need to collect to prove whether Bigfoot exists.

A few things • You have already done much of the thinking that is required to draft your letter. For example, you have already looked for the evidence that counts as proof and who should collect this evidence. This is a good starting point for you in explaining the type of evidence that needs to be collected to prove that Bigfoot exists. • As you plan and write your explanation, keep in mind the qualities of an effective explanation: clearly stated ideas, evidence to support your ideas, and clear explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas. • Organize your writing so that it flows and is easy to follow. • When you quote a specific line from a text, be sure to copy it accurately, put quotation marks around it, and provide the title of the article and the line number(s) of the quotation in parentheses. Below is an example. Notice that the part that is quoted is in quotation marks, and the period that ends the sentence comes after the parentheses. She said that “oceanographers developed the technology to explore deeper in the ocean than ever before” (“Monster of the Sea,” lines 44-45).

• Review the handout with students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations.

Differentiation There are several ways to engage students in this task depending on students’ proficiency with (a) developing and explaining their ideas, (b) incorporating textual evidence to support their ideas, and (c) organizing their ideas in a cohesive and easy-to-follow manner.

Some students may be able to do this task independently, while others may need teacher and peer support or model essays. The approach below provides scaffolding to support students in how to approach the task and how to generate and organize their ideas.

Teacher Note If students are not familiar with Bigfoot, provide them with some information to help them better understand the creature they will be writing about. A Google image search for “Bigfoot” will bring up a range of images that may be shown to students. Be sure to preview the images before showing them to your class. You may also want to share a brief excerpt about Bigfoot from a book such as In Search of Sasquatch by Kelly Milner Hall or Tales of the Cryptids: Mysterious Creatures That May or May Not Exist by Kelly Milner Hall, Rick Spears, and Roxyanne Young.

Monitoring Student Thinking: Individual Work (5 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with individual time to manage their own learning and consider how they will approach the work of the task; to determine what students know about how to tackle writing assignments.

• Ask students to take a few minutes individually to reread the handout and generate a list of the steps they might follow, as well as the resources they have and need to work through the task.

• As students are working, circulate around the room to skim the steps and resources students generate. Identify students whose steps and resources list would benefit the entire class.

Facilitating Student Sensemaking: Whole Group (5-7 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to share and learn from others about effective ways to approach and manage writing assignments.

• Ask the previously identified students to share the steps and resources they listed. Hear from multiple students. Encourage active listening by asking students to jot down or highlight the steps that they find most helpful. • Ask students to share the steps they found most helpful. If needed, work as a class to generate a list of the steps and resources, and a time frame students might follow, to work through the task.

Learning Target Ideally, students would generate steps and resources similar to the ones below. Students might have additional steps, put them in a different order, or articulate the steps in very different language, but their steps should encompass the following ways of approaching and working through the task.

Support for some of these steps is provided in the “Differentiation” box below.

Students

• review the “The Beast of Loch Ness” chart from Task 1.1 and the “Monster of the Sea” chart from Task 2.1 to refresh students’ memory regarding the study of mysterious creatures. • determine the qualities that a scientist should have to be successful when searching for mysterious creatures. • review their notes from Tasks 1.2 and 2.2 about the proof that counts as evidence that creatures exist. • gather evidence from the texts to support an explanation of the qualities that a scientist needs to make discoveries. • gather evidence from the texts to support an explanation of the evidence that needs to be collected to prove that a creature exists. • sketch out how they will organize their writing and determine what they’ll write about first, second, third, etc. • begin drafting.

The resources students have are:

• “The Beast of Loch Ness” chart from Task 1.1 • “Monster of the Sea” chart from Task 2.1 • Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence organizer from Task 1.2 • Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence organizer from Task 2.2 • Explanations from Task 2.3 • Notes from all tasks

Monitoring Student Thinking: Individual Work (30 minutes) Purpose: To enable students to work independently to begin working on their writing.

• Give students about 30 minutes to work. Encourage students to bounce their ideas off their peers. See the “Differentiation” box below for supporting students with several different aspects of this final task. • As students are working, confer with them individually or in small groups about their work. • Be on the lookout for what individual students or groups of students are finding difficult about working through this task. As needed, bring students together in small or large groups to share their work or engage in mini-lessons designed to support them to overcome difficulties. Below are some ways to support students with various aspects of this assignment.

Differentiation Students may need support with different aspects of this final task. Before stepping in to provide support, give them time to tackle the task first on their own or with a partner so you can determine what exactly students are finding difficult. Below are some suggestions for ways to support students with various aspects of this assignment.

Support for Determining the Qualities Scientists Need:

• If students need additional support in determining the qualities that scientists need to be successful when searching for a mysterious creature, begin with the quotation from Robert Rines on lines 117-119 in “The Beast of Loch Ness.” Have students reread the quotation and put it in their own words. • Then, ask students to look at the scientists who were successful at finding evidence for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, or other creatures in these texts. Ask students to look at what these scientists did to find evidence and thinking about what their actions say about them as researchers. • Ask students to track and collect their thinking on a three-column chart like the one below. o Have students look at each of the scientists mentioned in the two texts. They should write each scientist’s name in the left column of the chart. o Then ask students to look the text and their two organizers, Loch Ness Monster: Gathering Evidence and Giant Squid: Gathering Evidence, for what each scientist did to search for a mysterious creature. Support students to come up with a word to describe each scientist. Have students add their selected words to the middle column. o Finally, ask students to provide evidence from the text to support the word they selected for each scientist.

Word to describe the Evidence for the word Scientist Scientist you chose

• Consider having students share as a whole group so that they can receive feedback on their work.

Support for organizing ideas:

• Ask students to use chart paper to sketch a diagram or flow chart that illustrates their thinking about how they will organize their writing. If students are debating between two different ways, encourage them to chart both. Have students review each other’s charts to provide feedback and ask questions.

Support for writing about ideas:

Talk with students about the different ways they might organize their letters. Then model drafting various parts of it. Keep in mind that students are best served by seeing multiple models of the same aspect of writing to illustrate that there are many ways to write an introduction or conclusion, draft body paragraphs, and so on.

• Introduction: Model drafting several versions of an introduction. For example, you might model beginning your letter with a description of Bigfoot and the study of mysterious creatures. Show students how you transition from the description of the creature to a description of the scientists needed to join the team and the evidence they need to collect to a preview of the information that readers will encounter to support your conclusions. After writing the introduction, ask students to identify your thesis or idea statement and discuss how that statement connects back to the prompt. • Body paragraphs: Model several versions of the same body paragraph. For example, you might show a model that begins with a quality that a scientist on the team should have and another that begins with the evidence that needs to be collected to prove that Bigfoot exists. Think through transitions that will help tie the information in the paragraph together and help with the flow of the letter. After you’ve written the body paragraph, ask students to identify where you have clearly stated ideas, relevant textual evidence to support your ideas, and explanations that state how your evidence supports or links to your ideas. • Citations from texts: Show students how to cite information from texts by putting the text’s title and line numbers in parentheses.

Providing Clear Expectations: Whole Group (5 minutes) Purpose: To provide students with clear expectations for how their Writing Across Texts task will be scored.

• Provide each student with the handout titled Gr. 3 Writing Across Texts: Decision Tree Scoring Guide (found on page 85).

Grade 3: Wri+ng Across Texts Decision Tree Scoring Guide Is the response a letter to no yes scientists that references both unit texts? Does the letter include Does the letter provide textual Does the letter provide textual explanations that state how evidence—paraphrase or direct evidence to support the evidence the evidence supports or quotation—to support the qualities scientists need to collect to prove links to the ideas in the scientists need to be successful? Bigfoot’s existence? letter?

Does the letter include explanations Does the letter state the that state how the evidence supports qualities that scientists need to Are the explanations clear? or links to the ideas in the letter? search for Bigfoot?

Are the explanations clear?

Is the letter easy to follow? Does the letter state the evidence scientists need to collect to prove Bigfoot’s existence?

0 1 2 3 4 5

• Review the scoring guide with students, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and clarify expectations related to how their writing will be scored. Remind students that these explanations are drafts, and so the scoring guide, along with your feedback, will help them revise their writing. • Have students notice that this scoring guide is designed to assess their understanding of the ideas in the texts and the characteristics of effective explanations—two things they have been working on in this unit. Have students also notice that this scoring guide does not assess every aspect of their writing. For example, style and conventions are not included on this scoring guide. • Since this Decision Tree Scoring Guide may look very different from what students are used to, take a moment to explain how it works. o Begin by letting students know three key things: (1) the scoring guide is read from left to right, (2) each box presents a yes/no question, and (3) open arrows represent “yes” and lined arrows represent “no.” Point out the key in the upper right corner that shows students the difference between the “yes” and “no” arrows. o To use the Decision Tree Scoring Guide, begin with the first box in the upper left corner. If the answer to that question is yes, follow the “yes” arrow to the next box and repeat the process with the next question. If the answer is no, follow the “no” arrow to drop down to the 0 score point. Show students that sometimes the “no” arrow will take them to another question rather than directly to a score point. • Talk with students about how they can use this scoring guide to review their own or their peers’ essays once they’ve completed them.

Important The Decision Tree Scoring Guide is designed to assess students’ understanding of the ideas in the texts and their proficiency with writing effective explanations. As such, the scoring guide does not assess style or use of conventions. If you want to assess those aspects of students’ writing, please adjust the instructions and scoring accordingly. You can find two annotated and scored samples of student work on pages 86 and 88.

The scoring guide is most useful when it is accompanied by written or oral feedback that helps students revise their drafts with purpose and direction. When providing feedback to a student, be sure to anchor it in specific moments in the draft that relate to the criteria on the scoring guide. Point out moments where the writing successfully meets the criteria, as well as places where the writing could be revised to be more effective. Additionally, include concrete suggestions for how a student might revise his/her draft, but don’t do the revisions for the student or take away ownership of the writing.

Facilitating Metacognitive Work: Whole Group StepBack (10 minutes) Purpose: To provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their ways of working through the task after they have begun, including identifying what they find difficult and how they will overcome their difficulties.

• Ask students to discuss responses to the questions below: o What are you finding easy and difficult about this task? How will you work through your difficulties? o What additional support do you need from your peers or me? • Wrap up the conversation by negotiating a deadline with students for when they will turn in their drafts for peer feedback and/or your feedback.

Important Engage students in the rest of the lesson after they have completed the Writing Across Texts task.

Facilitating Retrospective Work: Whole Group (10 minutes) Purpose: To provide an opportunity for students to reflect on what they learned by engaging in a final discussion about the work of the unit.

• Facilitate a discussion in which students share their responses to the questions below: o What were the most significant things you learned over the course of this unit? Why were they significant? o How will you use what you learned? o What more are you interested in learning about?

Writing Across Texts “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea”

We have spent time over the past weeks reading, talking, and writing about “The Beast of Loch Ness” and “Monster of the Sea,” both by Lauren Tarshis. We examined and compared the evidence used to prove mysterious creatures exist, and we explored how Tarshis uses language to bring the creatures in her texts to life. We also worked on writing explanations. All of this work has prepared you for this final task.

Purposes This final task has two purposes: (1) to apply what you’ve learned from these two texts about the study of mysterious creatures and (2) to practice writing effective explanations.

Task You’ve been asked to help assemble a team to hunt for Bigfoot. Based on what you have read about the hunt for the Loch Ness Monster, giant squid, and other creatures, write a letter to other cryptozoologists in which you:

• explain the qualities that a scientist joining the team should have. • explain the type of evidence that the team will need to collect to prove whether Bigfoot exists.

A few things • You have already done much of the thinking that is required to draft your letter. For example, you have already studied what kind of evidence counts as proof. Your unit work is a good starting point for you in explaining the type of evidence that needs to be collected to prove that Bigfoot exists. • As you plan and write your explanation, keep in mind the qualities of an effective explanation: clearly stated ideas, evidence to support your ideas, and clear explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to your ideas. • Organize your writing so that it flows and is easy to follow. • When you quote a specific line from a text, be sure to copy it accurately, put quotation marks around it, and provide the title of the article and the line number(s) of the quotation in parentheses. Below is an example. Notice that the quoted part is in quotation marks, and the period comes after the parentheses.

She said that “oceanographers developed the technology to explore deeper in the ocean than ever before” (“Monster of the Sea,” lines 44-45).

© 2015 University of Pittsburgh – English Language Arts Unit, Grade 3: Mysteries of the Deep Writing Across Texts 85 5 yes no Is the letter easy to follow? Does the letter include explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas in letter? Are the explanations clear? 4 3 Are the explanations clear? Does the letter provide textual evidence to support the scientists need to collect prove existence? Bigfoot’s 2 Does the letter include explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas in letter? Decision Tree Scoring Guide Scoring Tree Decision Grade 3: Wri+ng Across Texts Wri+ng 3: Grade Does the letter provide textual evidence—paraphrase or direct quotation—to support the qualities scientists need to be successful? Does the letter state evidence scientists need to collect to prove Bigfoot’s existence? 1 Does the letter state qualities that scientists need to search for Bigfoot? 0 Is the response a letter to scientists that references both unit texts?

Writing Across Texts: Annotated Student Sample 1

January 27, 2015

Dear cryptozoologists: Task & Organization: The writer introduces the topic. She provides the qualities that a I am looking for scientists to help me search for Bigfoot. There are scientist needs to have to be successful in qualities that I am looking for. Robert Rines said, “If you don’t have an making a discovery—an open-mind, ideas, and adventure—and the type of evidence open mind, in my judgment, you are not a scientist. If you don’t have (e.g., physical) that needs to be collected to ideas, if you don’t have adventure, you’ll never make a discovery” (“The provide evidence of Bigfoot’s existence. Beast of Loch Ness,” lines 117-119). We also have to find physical evidence to prove Bigfoot exists. If you feel that way, read on because I Idea: The writer clearly states her idea, that scientists searching for Bigfoot should be want you on my team! looking for adventure and willing to devote time for searching. I am looking for team members that are looking for adventure and want to spend time to search for Bigfoot. I am looking for scientists Evidence: The writer provides evidence from like W. Douglas Burden and Steve O’Shea. Lauren Tarshis said that both texts about two successful scientists— W. Douglas Burden heard about the stories of monsters in Indonesia Steve O’Shea and W. Douglas Burden— who demonstrate the qualities that the went on an adventure to find them and he was successful (“Beast of writer says scientists need to be successful. Loch Ness,” lines 54-58). Steve O’shea has been searching for the giant squid for years and hasn’t given up (“Monster of the Sea,” lines Explanation: The writer connects the 52-53). If you want to go on an adventure like W. Douglas Burden’s trip evidence from the texts back to her idea that scientists should be looking for adventure to Indonesia and you’re like Steve O’Shea and you don’t give up, than I and be willing to spend time looking for want you for my team. Bigfoot.

We will have to use things like cameras to help us on our Idea: The writer clearly states her idea, adventure and to collect physical evidence. Lauren Tarshis wrote about that scientists searching for Bigfoot should collect physical evidence with cameras. how there is no physical evidence to prove that the Loch Ness Monster exists, so no one believes that it does. She also wrote that scientists Evidence: The writer references an idea and not just regular people have taken pictures and videos that from “The Beast of Loch Ness” to support show that the giant squid exists (“Monster of the Sea,” lines 81-84). the need for physical evidence. She also I have many new cameras and video machines that will help us get paraphrases the evidence from “Monster of the Sea” that proves that the giant squid physical evidence like the scientists did with the giant squid. The new exists—photographs and video. cameras will make better pictures and because we are scientist’s people will believe us. Explanation: The writer connects the evidence from the texts back to her idea that If you want to go on an adventure and want to spend a lot of time physical evidence collected by scientists looking for Bigfoot, I hope that you will join my team to search for such as video and photographs need to be collected to prove Bigfoot’s existence. Bigfoot and get physical evidence to prove that he is real. Organization: The writer concludes her letter Sincerely, by summarizing her ideas—that a scientist needs to be looking for adventure and be willing to spend time looking for Bigfoot and that the team will need to collect physical evidence to prove that Bigfoot exists.

© 2015 University of Pittsburgh – English Language Arts Unit, Grade 3: Mysteries of the Deep Writing Across Texts 87 5 Scored sample yes Is the letter easy to follow? Does the letter include explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas in letter? Are the explanations clear? no 4 3 Are the explanations clear? Does the letter provide textual evidence to support the scientists need to collect prove existence? Bigfoot’s Student Sample #1 Sample Student 2 Does the letter include explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas in letter? Decision Tree Scoring Guide Scoring Tree Decision Grade 3: Wri+ng Across Texts Wri+ng 3: Grade Does the letter provide textual evidence—paraphrase or direct quotation—to support the qualities scientists need to be successful? Does the letter state evidence scientists need to collect to prove Bigfoot’s existence? 1 Does the letter state qualities that scientists need to search for Bigfoot? 0 Is the response a letter to scientists that references both unit texts?

Writing Across Texts: Annotated Student Sample 2

December 2, 2014

Dear scientists: Task & Organization: The writer introduces the topic by providing a quotation from Robert Rines said “If you don’t have an open mind, in my judgment, “The Beast of Loch Ness” and stating that you are not a scientist. If you don’t have ideas, if you don’t have he needs help looking for Bigfoot. The writer does not provide context for the adventure, you’ll never make a discovery” (“The Beast of Loch Ness,” quotation from Robert Rines or tie it to his lines 117-119). I am looking for Bigfoot and need help. own ideas.

Bigfoot is a creature. It lives in many places. People have seen Idea, Evidence, & Explanation: The writer’s Bigfoot. There are pictures and videos of Bigfoot. I want to see Bigfoot main idea in this paragraph is that the for myself. People have seen the Loch Ness Monster and the Giant team searching for Bigfoot needs pictures Squid. We will need to take pictures and videos when we find it. and video. He references the unit texts by stating that people have seen the Loch Ness If you want to help me call me. We have to start soon. Because Monster and giant squid just as they have seen and taken pictures of Bigfoot. What’s Bigfoot lives in cold places. It might snow and we won’t be able to stay missing is an explanation of why the existing outside in the cold. photos and video of Bigfoot are not enough to prove the creature’s existence. The writer If you are brave, adventure, and have ideas call me. You have to be doesn’t explain why photos and video by a scientist too. Bring your camera. this team need to be collected nor does he provide evidence from the texts to support Sincerely, this idea.

Idea: The writer states his idea about the qualities that a scientist needs to have to be successful in searching for Bigfoot. The writer doesn’t connect this to the quotation by Robert Rines nor does he explain why being a scientists and possessing these qualities are important for providing evidence of Bigfoot’s existence.

© 2015 University of Pittsburgh – English Language Arts Unit, Grade 3: Mysteries of the Deep Writing Across Texts 89 5 Scored sample yes Is the letter easy to follow? Does the letter include explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas in letter? Are the explanations clear? no 4 3 Are the explanations clear? Does the letter provide textual evidence to support the scientists need to collect prove existence? Bigfoot’s Student Sample #2 Sample Student 2 Does the letter include explanations that state how the evidence supports or links to the ideas in letter? Decision Tree Scoring Guide Scoring Tree Decision Grade 3: Wri+ng Across Texts Wri+ng 3: Grade Does the letter provide textual evidence—paraphrase or direct quotation—to support the qualities scientists need to be successful? Does the letter state evidence scientists need to collect to prove Bigfoot’s existence? 1 Does the letter state qualities that scientists need to search for Bigfoot? 0 Is the response a letter to scientists that references both unit texts?

Appendix 93

What is our approach to vocabulary instruction? There are at least three different contexts to consider when thinking about vocabulary instruction: during shared reading, during independent reading, and during other times in the ELA block/period/week.

During a First Reading When the Focus is Comprehension and the Context is Shared Reading At some point, in all of our units, you will be guided to lead students in a close reading of at least a portion of text, or in some cases a whole text, in a guided reading context. You are encouraged to identify words in the text that may be unfamiliar to your students and that are essential to comprehension of the text, and to provide a short, student-friendly definition for each of these words during the reading (Collins COBUILD English Learner’s Dictionary, 20124).

The idea here is to provide just enough information (when it is needed and not before) about the new words so that students maintain the flow of ideas and can continue their focus on understanding the central ideas in the text. You will need to analyze the text carefully in advance to identify such words. In some cases, these words have been pointed out in the unit, but you may need to add to the words we have identified and write or find your own student-friendly definition. Coxhead has identified a list of 570 academic word families that consist of words that occur with frequency across a number of academic content areas in academic texts. This list can be a resource in deciding which words are most worthy of attention (Coxhead, A., 20005).

During a First Reading When the Focus is Comprehension and the Context is Independent Reading When reading texts independently, students are likely to encounter a range of words with which they are unfamiliar. They may or may not be able to discern which of these words are essential to understanding the text and which are not. In this situation we recommend that students use one of three approaches to figure out the meaning of the word:

1) Analyze the word to see if students are familiar with the meaning of any part of it or another form of it (e.g., decide versus decision); 2) Look for context clues, such as definitions within the sentence/paragraph; or 3) If these approaches fail, continue reading to see if they can make sense of the passage without this particular word.

During Language Arts Instruction at Other Times During the ELA Block/Period/ Week Vocabulary is a critically important part of supporting students to understand what they read. The vocabulary work within these units is not meant to replace a district’s robust vocabulary instructional program, but rather to be an important part of it. Typical vocabulary instruction that asks students to look up words in a dictionary and use them in a sentence has been demonstrated to be ineffective and, at its worst, may turn students off and diminish an interest in learning new words (Snow, Lawrence, & White, 20096). More powerful approaches include providing repeated exposure to a word in varied contexts; providing

4 Collins Language (Ed.) (2012). Collins COBUILD English learner’s dictionary. Glasgow, UK: HarperCollins Publishers.

5 Coxhead, A. (2000). A new academic word list. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), 213-238.

6 Snow, C., Lawrence, J. F., & White, C. (2009). Generating knowledge of academic language among urban middle school students. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2, 325–344.

opportunities and encouragement to use the word in speaking and writing; encountering the word in the context of motivating texts (rather than in a word list); providing explicit instruction in the word’s meaning (such as through student-friendly definitions); and through explicit instruction in using word-learning strategies, such as morphological analysis, cognate use, and learning multiple meanings (Snow, Lawrence, & White, 2009).

For examples of robust vocabulary instruction and programs, see “Word Generation” by the Strategic Education Research Partnership (http://wg.serpmedia.org/); Rev it Up! (2007) by Steck Vaughn; and Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, (2002/20137).

Additional Comments You should decide if talking about a particular word or phrase before reading a text would better support your students to establish essential prior knowledge. There are times when this is useful and necessary, e.g., for English learners and for students with special needs. However, as a rule, we encourage you not to front load vocabulary and instead to give student-friendly definitions right within the text as it is needed for comprehension. We also discourage asking students to provide definitions of unfamiliar words encountered during shared reading. Guessing is likely to distract from comprehension rather than enhance it.

Research suggests that it takes many repetitions with a new word before it truly becomes part of a student’s repertoire (Beck & McKeown, 2002). Students will have many and varied opportunities to incorporate these new words into their spoken vocabulary and writing as a result of repeated use by you, the teacher, and by fellow students throughout the sequence of lessons in these units. You may also want to utilize techniques such as building a word wall on which you post new vocabulary words and to which your students contribute as they discover new words during their reading. Finally, verbally marking when students use any of the newly acquired words in their speaking or writing will encourage other students to show off their newly acquired vocabulary.

7 Beck I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002/2013). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

How does the unit provide support for English learners? Support for English learners is provided within the lessons in a number of ways. Students learn new information in manageable segments, which are sequenced to build on existing knowledge of language and genre and explicitly relate to the overarching questions and core concepts of the unit. Students revisit new learning a number of times. For example, students read texts multiple times, each time with a new purpose and using a scaffold appropriate to the purpose and the text.

In this way of working, the first time students read a text it is for literal comprehension and to make overall sense of the text. It is only after students have comprehended a text’s basic plot, characters, ideas, or claims that they read the text again for a new purpose. Given their basic comprehension, students are more ready to analyze the development of the text’s characters, themes, ideas, or claims.

Talk is an essential part of this unit and students’ development of spoken academic language is fostered through routines of discussion. Please see “Accountable Talk® Moves and Functions in ELA” in the Instructional Resources section of the Appendix. The tool offers practical guidelines and exemplars on how to promote and deepen students’ talking to learn and to expand their thinking with powerful facilitation moves. Students are given multiple opportunities to practice using the language in purposeful ways with effective feedback. To help English learners, as well as other students, students are often asked to share in pairs or trios before being invited to share with the larger group. This allows students to practice and gain confidence sharing their responses with one or two students before doing so with the whole group.

® Accountable Talk is a registered trademark of the University of Pittsburgh.

Obtaining Copyright Permission

A number of texts, such as journal and newspaper articles, book chapters, children’s books, and poems, may be mentioned in this IFL Unit. Because of copyright considerations, these resources could not be included in the unit. A comprehensive reference citation has been included in this section of the unit.

The resources referenced in this unit may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). You are responsible for obtaining permission from the rights holder(s) in order to reproduce and distribute copyrighted material. The rights holder may require a fee for this permission, which will be based on the number of copies made. Even if the rights holder does not require a fee, you are still obligated to make a formal request before redistributing copyrighted material.

Notes

• The rights holder will need the following information to process your request—title of work, author, place of publication, page numbers, and how and when the resource will be used. • When text comes from an anthology or a textbook, the publisher of the book is most likely not the rights holder. The publisher generally gets permission to include the text in their book. The rights holder will need to be determined in order to get permission to use the text. • Picture books generally have two rights holders, one for the text and another for the images. Both rights holders must grant permission to make copies of the texts. • Other resources, such as paintings, photographs, graphics, cartoons, videos, songs, etc., also require copyright permission.

Instructional Resources

Reader/Writer Notebook

What is the Reader/Writer Notebook? It is a notebook with loose-leaf paper that can be added, rearranged, or temporarily removed. Loose-leaf holed paper between pressboard covers, held together with rings would suffice.

Students are asked to use a Reader/Writer Notebook throughout this unit.

What are two main purposes of the notebook? It gives the writer a place for thinking and trying out different voices and techniques. It also serves as a central notebook to store handouts, other papers, and calendars used in English language arts.

What are other specific uses of the notebook? It is our classroom tool for thinking, recording ideas, generating writing ideas, and trying out new voices.

We use it for quick writes, two-column notes, WriteAbouts, WriteLikes, criteria charts, class notes, brainstorming, etc.

• It is a place for writers to work through writing problems and brainstorm. • It is a place where we can go back to reread and/or select pieces for revision. • It is a place where we can go back to reflect on how we have grown as readers and writers.

How may students set up their own Reader/Writer Notebooks? Either on the cover or the first page of the notebook, ask students to write their name, class period, and the date they began using their notebook. They might also personalize their notebooks with decorations, pictures, nicknames, etc.

On the top of the second page of the notebook, ask students to write, “Table of Contents.” On the first line of the Table of Contents page, ask students to write: “date,” “topic,” and “page number.”

Beginning with the Table of Contents, ask students to number the first 30 pages; students may number the rest of the pages when they get to page 30.

Students can now begin using the Reader/Writer Notebook on page 6 (pages 2-5 will be set aside for the table of contents).

Note: Because the Reader/Writer Notebook is a place for students to think and try out different writing and reading ideas, encourage them to write and collect ideas in their notebooks as a habit of practice that extends beyond the times related to specific assignments for class.

Reader/Writer Notebook Suggested Feedback System

Since the Reader/Writer Notebook is expressive writing (writing for the writer), it is important to lower the students’ level of anxiety relative to grammar and usage errors. Randy Bomer, author of Time for Meaning: Crafting Literate Lives in Middle and High School (1995), suggests that teachers also use a Reader/Writer Notebook. This helps to deepen the idea of a writers’ community in the classroom and allows teachers to give students ideas for their notebooks by sharing from time to time from their notebooks.

Bomer has also devised a method of feedback based on the following criteria:

1. Volume A. One entry from each class, including one long selection. B. Five for homework, including two long selections.

2. Variety

3. Thoughtfulness

4. Habits of Thought–Intention for Writing Specifically: A. description B. precise dialogue C. movement between facts and ideas

5. Playful Experimentation with Language He then uses a class rotation system, collecting every student’s notebook once every two weeks. He writes brief comments and the score from the class rubric on sticky notes and places them in each notebook.

Pedagogical Rituals and Routines

When we ask students to engage in inquiry units and lessons, we ask them to use the following key Pedagogical Rituals and Routines. These rituals and routines, derived from research on cognitive apprenticeship, are designed to engage all students as learners in collaborative problem-solving, writing to learn, making thinking visible, using routines for note-taking/making and tracking learning, text-based norms for interpretive discussions and writings, ongoing assessment and revision, and metacognitive reflection and articulation as regular patterns in learning. These cyclical apprenticeship rituals and routines build community when used with authentic tasks through collaboration, coaching, the sharing of solutions, multiple occasions for practice, and the articulation of reflections (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989).

The key English language arts pedagogical routines that support students’ learning are:

• quick writes composed by individual learners in response to questions and tasks for any and all of the design features of lessons and units;

• pair/trio sharing of individual quick writes to establish academic conversations in a safe environment with high accountability to the task and the group members;

• charting of the pair/trio sharing by members of the group to represent the work of the group to the entire class;

• gallery walks for members of the class to read and take notes on the pair/trio work in preparation for a whole class discussion of the task;

• whole group discussions of the questions or tasks that prompted the scaffold of quick writes, pair/trio share, charting, and gallery walks to deepen understandings and address lingering questions;

• model of a total performance in order to help learners understand the essence of an activity and develop a mental picture of what the real thing looks like;

• Reader/Writer Notebook in which learners compose quick writes, take notes, make notes, compose observations for writings, respond to questions and tasks, and track their learning; and

• StepBacks in which learners metacognitively reflect through quick writes, pair/trio shares, charting, gallery walks, discussions, and writing assignments on the content and pedagogy of their learning to develop and track their understandings and habits of thinking.

Accountable Talk® Moves and Functions in ELA

TEACHER MOVE FUNCTION EXAMPLE TO ENSURE PURPOSEFUL, COHERENT, AND PRODUCTIVE GROUP DISCUSSION 1. Marking Direct attention to the value and “I hear you saying _____. Let’s keep this importance of a student’s contribution. idea in mind.” 2. Challenging Redirect a question back to the students “What do YOU think?” “What surprised Students or use a student’s contributions as a you about what you just heard about the source for a further challenge or inquiry. text’s ______?” 3. Modeling Make one’s thinking public and “Here’s what good readers do…” demonstrate a total performance in order to help learners understand the essence of the activity and to develop a mental picture of what the real thing looks like. TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY TO ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE 4. Pressing for Hold students accountable for the “Where can we find that…?” “What is Accuracy accuracy, credibility, and clarity of their your basis for that conclusion?” “Who said contributions. that?” 5. Building on Prior Tie a current contribution back to “How does this connect…?” “How do we Knowledge knowledge accumulated by the class at a define ______in this context?” “What previous time. else comes to mind given our discussion about ______?” TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY TO RIGOROUS THINKING 6. Pressing for Elicit evidence and establish what “Why do you think that…?” “What Reasoning contribution a student’s utterance is evidence from the text supports your intended to make within the group’s larger claim? How does this idea contrast with enterprise. _____?” 7. Expanding Open up extra time and space in the “Take your time… say more.” “Given what Reasoning conversation for student reasoning. we just read and discussed, what would you now say about ______?” 8. Recapping Make public in a concise, coherent “What have we discovered?” “So far, we way, the group’s developed, shared have discussed the following …What else understanding of the content or text under do we need to address?” discussion. TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE LEARNING COMMUNITY 9. Keeping the Ensure that students can hear each other, “Please say back what _____ just said.” Channels Open and remind them that they must hear what others have said. 10. Keeping Everyone Ensure that everyone not only heard, but “Do you agree or disagree with what Together also understood, what a speaker said. ______just said? Explain your thinking.” 11. Linking Make explicit the relationship between “Who wants to add on to …?” “What do Contributions a new contribution and what has gone you notice is missing?” before. 12. Verifying and Revoice a student’s contribution, thereby “So, are you saying…?” Clarifying helping both speakers and listeners to engage more profitably in the conversation.

Inquiry-Based Discussion

In an inquiry-based discussion, readers discuss their responses to an interpretive question about a text(s). An interpretive question stems from a genuine inquiry about a text, is thought-provoking, and can sustain multiple and varied responses supported by textual evidence.

The purposes of the discussion are to help readers to:

• “try out” their answers and explanations anchored with specific moments from the text; • accept alternative views/interpretations of the same text (not about reaching consensus or proclaiming a winner); • rethink what they think about the text; and • understand that readers can have different, valid interpretations of the same text.

Preparing for the Discussion: • The discussion lead, usually the teacher, explains inquiry to readers, models some responses, and describes the teacher’s and the students’ roles during the discussion. • Allow enough time for the discussion given the text complexity. • The discussion usually follows the second or third reading of a text. • Individually, students WriteAbout the interpretive question and mine the text for evidence supporting their responses. • Students are seated so they can see, talk to, and listen to each other.

Features of the Inquiry-Based Discussion: • A central inquiry/question that can sustain multiple responses related to interpreting the ideas of one text or across texts focuses the talk. • The facilitator prompts students to “say more” and to anchor their talk in the text. • Initial student talk is exploratory and can be halting as participants “try out” and modify their answers and explanations. • Participants return often to cite or reread the text, texts, or their notes. • There is usually genuine talk related to the question by over 60% of the group. • Participants listen to each other using the ideas of others in their answers. • At the end of the discussion, there is time for each participant to jot down what they are thinking about the text given the discussion. • The teacher takes the long view on students’ discussions, expecting the students to get better as they have more experience.

Facilitator’s Role: • The teacher facilitator is not a direct teacher or a presenter. The facilitator does not talk too much, does not repeat the talkers’ responses, and does not verbally compliment or negate responses. • When teachers step out of their role as guides and into their role as participants or teachers, they limit participation (Vygotsky, 1986; Alvermann, et al., 1996). • As teacher facilitator, you elicit what readers are thinking and validating with evidence, but you are not telling them your interpretation. • The teacher facilitator: – Uses questions to get others talking; – Encourages everyone—not just some—to participate; – Presses for clarification and evidence from the text; – Keeps the conversation on track during the time frame provided; – Encourages readers to listen to and learn from each other by not repeating their responses; – Reminds them, only if and when necessary, of the guiding question under discussion; – Asks each discussant to validate answers with explanations anchored in evidence from the text; – Summarizes a flow of three or four responses or questions further to raise rigor of discussion—not to do the mental work for students; – Asks participants to step back and reflect on what they learned from the discussion: Would they now change their first quick write response and, if so, what would they change and why?; and – Asks the idea tracker to recap the intellectual work of the discussion.

• The facilitator asks readers to step back and reflect on the discussion: If they didn’t participate successfully, what needs to improve and who has responsibility for the improvement?

Institute for Learning Learning Research and Development Center

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